Blessed
by writersBLOCKacilin
Summary: For Mari, a human specially blessed by Nyx, not much has changed since she helped fight the government's obsession with vampyres. She's still rescuing people and still getting into trouble. Nothing has changed…right? Sequel to Bagged Original Cast/World
1. Life After War

_***Alright, it's a little longer than I meant for it to be but...oh well. This is the sequel to Bagged. This makes absolutely NO sense if you haven't read Bagged so...read it! Heh. Enjoy.***_

"We don't need your help, _human_!" a vamp chick snapped as I chased the local VHB (Van Helsing Brigade) away from her group of vamps. What is a group of vamps called anyway? Totally not the point. The point was that not three months ago I had been a leader with a powerful army at my disposal. Now I was…what? Just some human? Great. Hero to zero.

"Come on now," Erol growled, pulling Connor to his feet after he'd been knocked over by the brigade's leader. "That human just saved your life. She's on our side."

The chick rolled her eyes and her pierced nostrils flared. "We're nowhere near the same side. Just because she's a vamp groupie doesn't mean we're on the same side."

"Hey now," Gia scoffed, coming at the vamp confrontationally. "She ain't a groupie! She's done more for vamps than you can even imagine." Little Gia crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at the vamp chick. "In fact, it's thanks to her that the Baggings were called off. I suggest you tell her how much you appreciate her. Worshipping her wouldn't be out of the question." She threw a playful smile my way.

The vamp chick looked Gia up and down. "_You_ can help me any day, sweetie," she said, flirtatiously.

Connor and Erol stifled laughter, though not very efficiently. "You are so not my type," Gia chuckled at the wannabe punk vamp with bright pink hair, stylishly torn shirt and black cargo pants. She looked like late 90s punk personified, except she bathed.

Gia's response didn't deter the girl. "Oh come on. I know you're a…friend of Sappho."

"Never said I wasn't," Gia retorted with a smirk. "Doesn't mean I go for the likes of you." This pissed the punk chick off.

"Guys, let's go," Desmond sighed. "We came, we saw, we kicked some ass. End of story." Funny coming from the guy who beat the crap out of this one vamp in Boston for asking if he wanted to share his human whore (referring to me). As if he was one to shy from a fight.

Daydream kissed her mate on the cheek. "Desmond's right you guys. Leave the ingrates to suffer another attack without our help." She gave the punk chick a knowing stare. "One less vamp making trouble for the rest of us."

The punk vamp looked around at her followers, nervously. "What do you mean?"

"She means you're going to die tonight, sweet cheeks," Gia barked. She could be so scary for such a little thing. "We came here to prevent that. Gain more ground for vamps. It was actually _that human_ who told us that we couldn't let you die." The punk chick gave me an appraising stare. "You okay Mari?" Gia asked. "You look confused."

I nodded. "Who is Sappho?"

The punk vamp gave me a strange look and Gia smiled at me. Not any normal smile. The smile I had come to learn meant that I had just said or done something fairly stupid. It was loving while still a little patronizing. I looked over at Daydream who mouthed "Ancient lesbian" in answer to my question. I nodded in understanding, though why "friend of Sappho" seemed like a topical reference for lesbian I could never understand. Why not just say lesbian? Clear everything up.

I shook my head of my own ignorance. "Look, whether you want my help or not, I'm here to offer it. My friends here are extremely powerful vamps who could help keep you and yours out of harm's way tonight." The vampyre looked into my eyes as I spoke, as if she was seeing me in a different light. "The choice is yours. If you were any kind of a leader you would want these people defending your friends. Your family." I crossed my arms in front of my chest. The vamp's eyes widened. I looked down to see that my shirt had been pulled down a little to reveal the mark on my chest.

"You're her," the vamp practically whispered. "The one they've been talking about. You're Nyx's right hand. The one who saved all those Bagged folk. The Blessed one." I suppressed a sigh. I was getting awful tired of that nickname. "I'm Astrid," she stuck out her hand. Suddenly I was worthy of an introduction? Ugh, whatever. I shook her outstretched hand.

"I'm Mari," I replied, looking her over. A smile touched my lips. "So what was your birth name, Astrid?"

Astrid blushed and looked down at the ground. "Mollie." She immediately glared at Connor and Erol as if they were ready to insult her. "And I don't wanna hear anything about that name! It's so…girly. I changed it to Astrid at my House of Night." She turned back to Gia and me, like we were her sympathetic ears. "Astrid is old Norse for divine strength." She pushed her chin out, proudly.

"So you're like…super strong?" Erol asked, receiving an unwarranted glare from Astrid.

"Yes. I would be a female warrior if things weren't so crazy right now. Does that surprise you?"

My comrades broke down laughing. "Sorry," Desmond sighed. "It's just…you clearly have never met the great warrior Boudicca. She makes me feel like a little girl." It was hard to imagine anyone making the muscular and manly Son of Erebus feel emasculated in any way, but the nearly Amazonian vampyre would definitely be the one to do it.

Astrid ignored our laughter and gave me another look over. "So when will they be attacking?" she continued. "When will my people be out of danger?"

I stared at her as the wind blew my hair in my face. "Haven't you been paying attention to the world around you? You're constantly in danger. This danger just happens to be immediate and predicted. Specifically between eight and twelve tomorrow night."

She stared at all of us a for a moment before scoffing. "And how do I know you're not doing this just to get into our home and steal from us? Or mooch off of us at the very least?"

"Look," Connor sighed, tired of being silent. "If you don't want our help, fine. We'll be on our way. We have to get to our friends in Florida. This just happened to be on our way and Mari demanded that we help you." He gave me a little glare. "It was moderately annoying." Connor had grown to realize I was frustrating. Good. It would help him survive with us.

Truth was, I was the only one who wanted to stop in Valdosta, Georgia, to help these people out before getting down to the Norton brothers, David and Tyler, in Florida. David, one of my best friends, and his twin brother had made a beeline straight to Miami from Maine, trying to get as far from that horrible testing facility as they could while still on the east coast. They had taken in a bunch of vamps and humans alike who had helped one another during the time of the Baggings. Unfortunately, a VHB down there had turned seriously nasty and was giving them some problems. They called for us.

The day before, we had been in this place called Salem, a few hours north of Valdosta. We were helping some folks get to a safe house, and one of them turned out to be psychic…similar to Connor's brand of psychic except this person was a vamp. She told us about an issue down in Valdosta, in that creepy and vague way. Gia checked into our future and saw what would happen. I seemed to be the only one who wanted to make this little stop in order to prevent a massacre and I couldn't figure out why. Gia, Connor and Erol had been very against it while Daydream and Desmond, though not entirely pleased with the idea, seemed rather ambiguous about the whole situation. It had only been three months. Was my team already losing their passion for helping people? Connor I could understand, he wanted to find out what god he was meant to serve. He wanted to know who had given him this ability to give creepy prophesies. This was all just in the meantime. He wanted to know as soon as possible. What excuse did everyone else have?

"Mari," Gia whined, giving me her puppy dog eyes. "They don't want our help. Let's just go. We can probably make it to Miami before dawn." She furrowed her brow, deepening the puppy dog eye effect. Unfortunately for her, I had become almost immune to it.

I gave her a stern look then looked back at Astrid and her nervous team. "So what'll it be?" I asked.

Astrid took us to their hide out which turned out to be an abandoned warehouse. Oh yeah, that didn't scream _PEOPLE ARE HIDING HERE_ at all. It was a wonder they hadn't suffered this kind of attack before.

"It's most likely that they will attack there, there, there and there," Gia informed them, after breathing in the essence of the place and getting a feel for its future. She pointed to two large windows on the upstairs level, a single large window on the lower floor and the main doors. "You should have at least two people stationed near them at all times. It's the best way to ensure that they won't catch you by surprise."

A skeptical male vamp stared at Gia as she gave her orders. "Only likely? If you can't even be sure then what kind of psychic are you?"

"The kind who sees all and therefore knows that probability is something to be taken into account," Desmond countered. "She can see every outcome and knows which ones are more likely than others. Be grateful." Desmond barked the last sentence, glaring at the vampyre. He'd become very protective of Gia in the last few months.

"Just trust us," Daydream added, holding Desmond's hand as though she was holding him back. She gave a sweet smile. "We've got this down to a science." And she was right. This certainly wasn't the first time we'd come in and pulled off one of this missions. In fact, it was getting to be a habit of ours. We came in, Gia psychically checked the place out and told people what to expect, we dealt with the attackers and left the next day. We were like those cowboys in old westerns. Where ever trouble was, we'd be there. Unfortunately, trouble was everywhere.

"So you do this a lot?" Astrid asked, somewhat dubious.

Erol chuckled. "Only every day that ends in a Y."

The skeptical guy continued to look us over. "So then what's in it for you?"

Gia and Erol looked like they were about to come at the guy so I intervened. "We get to help those in need. The more vamps that get killed the less ground we have to stand on. But we don't charge people if that's what you're getting at." I could tell by his reaction that this was exactly what he was getting at. "We do appreciate people allowing us to eat some of their food, but we ask for nothing."

"What do we get from you, human?" he asked, eyeing the blue veins which were pretty bright in the crook of my elbow. He was talking about my blood. Typical. Thinking with his teeth.

"You get the crap beat out of you if you look at her like that again," Gia growled. I had actually expected Erol to say it. He did, however, step in front of me with her as if shielding me. Like they hadn't learned that I was _completely_ capable of taking care of myself.

Astrid socked the guy in the gut, causing him to fall back and double over. She wasn't kidding about that divine strength stuff. "Show some respect, Tony. That's the Blessed one you're talking to."

I cringed. "I'm Mari. Please…leave out the…title or whatever. I don't really care for it." I was starting to miss Jason. He always made sure to treat me like I didn't matter at all. Oh goddess…there was something so wrong about that.

Tony got to his feet, coughing from having the wind knocked out of him. "So she's marked by Nyx. Big whoop. So are we. She's still just a human.

I watched as both Erol and Gia tensed, ready to fight. "It shouldn't matter what I am, or what you are for that matter. That's the point. That's what _we_ are fighting for." I gave him a hard look. "I don't know about you."

"Is it true?" a frail looking blonde girl asked, cutting through the tension. "Can your blood heal us? Bring us back from the brink of death?" She seemed so excited. Like a puppy when its people come home.

"Yep," Desmond chuckled. "These three can attest to that, personally." He pointed to Daydream, Erol and Gia, all of whom I had saved.

The other vamps in Astrid's group began to stare. Ah yes, the freak show attention I was so used to. I'd missed it so. Not.


	2. Protection

**_*Sorry it's been a while. Finals drove me mad, MAD I SAY! See? That there? That's not sane! Anyway. It's summer for me now so I'll update more regularly. Promise.*_**

We did the usual dance with people we don't know. We told them that my blood was just extra potent and that most things had probably been exaggerated. Basically, we played it off like I was just a sort of messed up vamp who hadn't been able to turn. It was easier that way and people didn't have to know the extent of my story. After Aldo and Liam…I just didn't want people fearing my untapped abilities or thinking they could use me. I couldn't deal with that again. So we told them our little story and began getting to work on saving their butts.

"We are getting to be pros at this," Gia chuckled as we grabbed weapons as well as some ingredients for a spell from Desmond's SUV. Connor and I, in an effort to feel slightly more useful, had begun looking into little spells. Protection and detection mostly. "We're like…the A-Team for vampyres!"

I smiled, grabbing a bundle of dried burdock root. "You've been spending way too much time with Erol, you're starting to speak geek." Gia grinned proudly. "I don't know…just seems like we keep doing the same thing over and over again."

Gia propped a hand on her hip and gave me a funny look. "What? You need more excitement? Because I've got to tell you, I've had enough of that to last a lifetime. That neat little battle we had will keep me sated for some time. "

"No," I scoffed. "I'm good in terms of excitement. Really, if I never had to fight again in my life I would be super happy just…" I sighed and sat down in the open trunk of the SUV, putting me at eye level with little Gia. "I can't help but feel like we're not doing anything. We help people day in and day out. We keep them safe and try desperately to change people's opinions of you guys but…we never seem to even put a _dent_ in it. The wall of people opposing what we're fighting for stays as strong and tall as ever."

Gia sat down next to me and pushed her short black hair, which was now at her shoulder and long for her, away from her face. "Mari…how long did it take for the slaves to be freed? Hell, how long did it take for women to get their complete equal rights? Think of how black women felt. Anyway, you get my point."

I shook my head. "We're more advanced now. We should allow all people to have rights. No matter what."

Gia cocked a brow. "Yeah…real advanced. Hence all the hate crimes, and I'm not talking about the ones against vamps. Look," she sighed, blowing air through her lips. "What I'm saying is that things like this take time. We could be really old by the time vamps get even half the rights they deserve. I mean you could be…" She trailed off, remembering that I was human. Even with the extra years Nyx allowed me, I would be dead long before any of my vamp friends. It made them all a little sad, though none more than Gia.

I changed the subject, sort of. The subjects connected in my mind. "So, Astrid seems…well I'm not a good judge of these things but, she seems cute. Right? Is she..cute?"

"She's alright," Gia sighed, staring up at the stars.

"So…I mean, why did you say she wasn't your type?"

Gia shrugged. "I just didn't feel like letting that whole scenario play out." It was so weird talking to a person who knew every possible future. Her decision making was not like other's.

"Why? Does she hurt you or something?"

"No no," Gia replied, shaking her head. "It's just a short fling at best. I just don't want to deal with it." She paused then turned to glare at me. Her normally warm brown eyes looked like they could set me on fire. "You're suggesting I make a move on her!"

I started to scoff but decided there was no point in lying. "Well yeah. I mean, would it really hurt to—"

"You're pushing me to move on," she growled. Man, if looks could kill. "What the hell is that about? I told you that I'm in love with you. I'm waiting until—"

"Until you have no reason to wait for me anymore because I'm either dead or I've chosen a guy? Leaving you…where? I just…" I sighed, trying not to take the defensive. "I don't want you to waste your life."

She stood and glared. "It's my life. Besides, I don't see you telling Erol to move on and flirt with some hottie."

I stood too. "Well I haven't told you to do so until just now. There's a first for everything." I stared at my feet. "Besides…I planned on pushing him to look elsewhere too."

"Yeah, sure. You just throw me at the first lesbian we meet." In my defense, Astrid was not the first lesbian we'd come across. But there was some truth in her suspicions. Gia looked me up and down, a scowl on her face. "Fine, maybe I'll go pay Astrid a visit. See you later, ma'am." With that she stormed away.

"Good!" I called after her. "That's why I suggested it!"

She passed Connor, who was coming out as she was going back in, and grumbled something to him I couldn't hear. He raised his brows and gave me a funny look. He continued walking toward me, shaking his head. "You pissed her off, man!" he chuckled. "I'm _so_ glad I'm not you."

I cocked a brow. "That's the only reason you're glad to not be me? Because if so, you really haven't been paying attention."

Connor grinned. "I came out to see if you needed any help getting the supplies." I looked down at the few supplies we needed. I could carry them easily and he knew there wasn't much. "Alright, so I was tired of being glared at for being human. Can we lie to them and say I'm some sort of Blessed person too?" He smiled hopefully.

"If only," I sighed, closing up Desmond's car. "Sadly, I'm the only freak in this sideshow."

"Then what am I?" Connor asked, taking some of the supplies from my arms.

"You're that gross smelling guy who cleans up after the animals in the other acts," I chuckled. "Just as gross and weird as the freaks but people don't pay to stand around and look at you."

We laughed a little as we headed back inside but quickly quieted down. I got that these people were hiding, really, but why did they all have to be so angry and serious? Well, almost all of them. The excitable little blonde vamp, Elise, was hardly serious or angry. As Connor and I set up for the detection net, which would alert us should someone mount an attack, Elise could not stop looking over our shoulders. She wanted desperately to know about everything. When she realized, thanks to the barking orders of Astrid and Tony, that she might be a distraction she decided to settle for watching us intently.

Connor and I sat down on our "sacred cloth", which wasn't so much sacred as much as it was good to have between us and cold floor as well as easy to clean burned ingredients out of. We placed the offering plate, where we put the ingredients to burn them or whatever the spell called for, in the middle of the cloth and sat on either side. So began our ritual. I grabbed a baggie full of crushed basil, bay leaves and angelica root and sprinkled some onto the plate. Then Connor placed stones around our plate. He put amber to the south, obsidian to the west, blue agate to the east and tiger's eye to the north. I poured some extract of rosemary oil into the plate and Connor grabbed a dried burdock root. He looked to me and I nodded. We were ready.

Connor lit the burdock root on fire and placed it on the plate with the other ingredients. The fire wasn't spreading to the other ingredients yet because the rosemary oil was slowing it down. That wouldn't last long. Connor and I stretched out our hands so that our left palms were facing up and each of us covered the other's with our right hand. In other words, we placed our hands on top of one another's. We locked eyes and began the spell.

"Nyx, goddess of darkness, we call on you to shed some light," I began.

"Prometheus, protector of man, we beg for your aid," Connor added.

"Baset we implore you."

"Sepa we call on you."

Then we joined our voices as one. "We cast a net to be our eyes, to be our ears, so let it rise. Protect our lives, protect this place. Keep us within your warm embrace. May it sense an enemy attack allowing us to fight back. Custodi nos. Custodi nos." The flame instantly ate up everything on the plate and turned green, leaving a cloud of smoke dangling above it, awaiting instructions.

I looked at the cloud of smoke. "Should enemy approach then do sing. Like hundreds of church bells, please do ring." The cloud shot apart, each bit of it flying in a different direction. I could feel the smoke settle and the net fall into place. We'd gotten pretty good at that spell but it still took a bit of energy out of me.

Connor smiled a little before pulling his hands away from mine. He glanced nervously at Gia and Erol. Not too far back Connor and I got a little drunk and…well it turns out he's a handsy drunk, which got Gia and Erol up in arms. Erol nearly beat the crap out of Connor before he realized how drunk we were. Gia just kept laughing and trying to make me walk in a straight line. Regardless, since the whole ordeal Connor had been really nervous when spells required us to touch.

Erol helped me to my feet, as Gia glared from a darkened corner. "Now what?" Tony growled.

"Now we wait," Erol sighed, trying desperately not to snap back at the guy.

"We have a security system in place and we know where they will attack from," Daydream added, when Tony seemed less than pleased with Erol's answer. "Now we just have to wait for their attack. We're prepared for whatever they can dish out."

Tony opened his mouth to complain. "Oh for the love of Nyx," Desmond groaned. "Please no more. You are really pissing me off. Like, to the point where I'm strongly considering taking my pack here away from this place and leaving you to fight off the bastards on your own." I smiled as Desmond referred to us as his pack. I'd made a lot of mistakes in the past, choosing these people for my companions was not one of them.

"No no!" Astrid intervened before Tony could respond. "We like you guys here. Really. It's just…" she looked around at her team. _Her_ pack. "We're wary of outsiders these days."

I nodded, leaning into Erol for support. "That's smart. We don't mind that you keep watch over us. Just don't question us at every turn. Suspicion is fine, it keeps you alive, but accept what help you can get." I glanced around the room, looking at the worn and worried faces around me. "You're scared and want to keep yourselves safe, that's good. But, you question the methods and reasons of my group and that's…well that's just plain dumb."

Elise grinned excitedly at me. "I can see why all the vamps fell in line with you. You give quite a speech."

Connor scoffed. "That was nothing. You should have heard her speeches in war time." He sniffled dramatically. "Moved me to tears."

Tony rolled his eyes then locked me in a stare, appraising me. "Fine, I trust you…mostly."

I smiled, feeling like a confident leader once more. "Don't need any more than that."


	3. The Justice System

The waiting is the hardest part. When you know the place you are staying in will soon be under siege but you have no idea when it leaves you kind of on edge. Everyone tried to get some sleep and eat, going into the other little rooms in the warehouse, but I stayed in the big room, waiting for the alarm to go off and the windows to be broken. It was nothing compared to waiting for Baggers to find our hideouts. This was a nice little Sunday picnic compared to that.

A little before the sun set Tony sat down next to me, underneath one of the big windows Gia had warned us they would come through. "Okay, so here's the deal," Tony sighed, scratching his scalp beneath his gelled black hair. "I may be a smidge jumpy about humans helping me because this guy 'helped' us when we were still being hunted and he turned out to be an undercover Bagger."

I smiled grimly. "I guess they liked sticking to good ideas." Tony gave me a "_what in the hell are you talking about?"_ look. "They sent a Bagger to do the same thing to us. Trouble was he turned to our side while undercover. Kind of backfired on them." Tony chuckled a little and I smiled, thinking about David. He'd become so loyal that he'd killed his boyfriend to protect me and our cause. So we had a guy who was trained to be a Bagger but was on our side. Not wise of the government now, was it? "But still, I get why you're protective. It's cool. Just…sometimes you've got to take a leap of faith." Now I was thinking about Lucas. He'd seemed so dangerous but I _knew_ we would need his help. I took that leap of faith.

Tony nodded. "I get that just…easier said—"

At that moment the sound of bells rang throughout the warehouse and I leaned back, bracing myself for my move. A large brick came crashing through the window and arms quickly followed. I grabbed the disembodied arms by the wrists and pulled the body through the window so the man fell on his back in front of me. I put my switchblade to the guy's throat and looked over at Tony, who stared in amazement. "Sometimes you have to practice. Then doing becomes as easy as saying." I grinned then pressed my switchblade to his throat as his fellow hate mongers began to appear.

Before they could start attacking the man I held cried, "Uh, guys? Little help here?"

Everyone froze and stared at me in bewilderment, the vamps included. "One more act of violence and your friend is dead." The VHB exchanged glances. "I'm not kidding. I'll kill him."

A man in a long leather jacket, clearly meant to be modeled after Hugh Jackman's in _Van Helsing_, glared at me and shook his head. "Do it and you'll only further what we believe. That you monsters are evil and have no regard for human life."

"Look at the forehead, Bubba," I scoffed. "I _am_ human." He tried not to look taken aback but he was. "Still feel all unjustly superior?"

He eyed me and glanced down at the man I held. "It just shows how easily swayed woman is."

"Oh hell no," both Gia and Astrid growled, taking a few steps forward. This was, of course, taken as an attack and bar-like fighting broke out. I felt my shoulders slump.

I looked down at my hostage who stared at the fighting sadly. "It's like I'm not even holding your life in my hands, I swear," I sighed. The guy gave me a helpless look. He didn't seem mad or scared. He just seemed put off. "You…you don't care about vampyres do you?"

He gave a little shrug. "I don't like them but I don't dislike them. Never really encountered one."

"Aha…so your father is in the group?"

"Brother," he sighed, nodding over to the holier than thou Hugh Jackman wannabe. "Pulled me out of college in New York to fight vamps. Said that if I stayed in New York people would try to brain wash me and take me from the path to God." I scoffed. "I know, I know. Honestly, I don't think God would want us to exterminate an entire people. He had to have created them for a reason, right?"

I smiled and decided not to enlighten him about the existence of many gods, including a Christian deity according to Nyx. It was just nice to see someone who didn't use their faith as a reason to hate. As opposed to most cynics, I always fully endorsed religion. It is a helpful tool when used to get one through a difficult time or remind them of what's right and wrong. Just because some idiots used it for hate didn't make it bad. Like guns. Guns alone aren't bad. People giving them terrible purposes are the bad ones. "Take my advice kid," I chuckled kindly, while still holding a blade to his throat, "go back to school or just get out of here at the very least." The boy nodded respectfully and, in that moment, suddenly looked a bit like Rosto. I had to shake my head of the thought.

Just then sirens blared, getting closer to us until they were in front of the building. No one but the boy and I really noticed, or at least cared. A large, high ranking, officer burst through the front door with a little woman and several male officers behind him. All of them had guns in hand.

"Now that's enough!" the leading officer barked in an accent which can only come from the Deep South. "Drop any weapons and put your hands up!" Everyone did as they were told. The boy I was holding palmed my knife and smiled at me. He was hiding it so I wouldn't be in trouble. What a little sweety! "We were warned that there would be some sort of gang activity here tonight."

The smaller female officer pointed to me. "She's the one who warned us, Sarge."

* * *

><p>"What do you mean that's all you can do?" I growled as the VHB men, minus the college boy, were led away. "They tried to kill—"<p>

"Which we have no real proof of. Look, we've got destruction of property and breaking and entering. What more do you want?" the sergeant gave me a weary look.

I stared, completely flabbergasted. "I want you to have them tried for conspiracy to commit murder."

"They came at us wielding weapons," Astrid sighed, somehow managing to be calmer than I was being. "There are definitely laws against that."

The little woman looked up to her sergeant. "There must be something more we can do, Sarge. I mean, they did break the law and they've fully admitted to coming with the intention of killing everyone in there."

"Every _vampyre_ in there," the sergeant corrected. "These laws only apply to human beings. There is no precedent in the event of a group of vampyres being killed. I'm sorry," he sighed, unapologetically, "but this is how it is. You folk aren't humans therefore I am not bound to protect you."

I stared, feeling hate and anger rolling through my entire body. It made me dizzy. "What are you saying?" I asked quietly, making my friends a little nervous. They knew that the quieter I got, the angrier I was.

"I'm saying that they ain't human," he replied, plainly. "We were better off when they were being experimented on. At least then we could have classified them. Come up with laws which applied to them."

"While they lived through being tortured?" I growled, just getting angrier. "Didn't you see the film?"

The sergeant scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Yes I saw the selective shots. Blatant propaganda."

"It was—"

"Good day!" the sergeant interrupted, walking towards the men in the police cars at a brisk pace. My stomach churned as he chuckled with them and asked how their mommas were.

The female officer handed me a card. "My name is Monica, Detective Monica Handler. I…call me if you guys ever need any help." I gave her a clear "_how will this help at all?"_ face. "Not everyone feels like the Sarge and his boys. There are plenty of us who want to actually uphold the law, not play semantics with it." She gave me a warm smile.

"Yeah, like we can trust you," Astrid scoffed, looking at her scuffed up boots. Was she crying?

"You can," Monica sighed. "I know it's hard but…I've got to believe this will get better." Gia smiled and nodded at the woman, letting me know that she meant what she said. Sometimes psychics were useful. But only sometimes. Monica held my hands and looked into my eyes. "And you especially. You're one of the few actually out there fighting for this. If you ever need anything give me a call."

I shrugged. "Thank you, but my team is moving out tomorrow night. I would be much obliged if you would keep an eye on these folk though."

Monica nodded. "Of course. Where are ya'll going to?"

"Florida," Gia replied, taking charge to let me know that this woman was 100% trustworthy. "We've got some friends whose group needs our help."

"That's not too far off for me and mine to help," Monica said, nodding at Gia then turning back to me. "Besides which, I have friends in high places who owe me plenty of favors. I can get someone to help you where ever you need them."

"Thank you," I sighed, taking in the police officer's warm presence. "We need all the help we can get these days."


	4. Expected

**_*I say it will be more regular and then I make ya'll wait...okay. For reals this time. The updates will be closer together. Hehe...I think. Anyhoo, chapter 4!*_**

_I was running through a marshy area, unsure as to what it was I was running from. I continued to run, occasionally tripping over my unreasonably cumbersome dress. I finally came to a fork in the road and stopped. Which way should I go? I had to take a breath. Panicking would do me no good. I sat on a tree stump._

_Suddenly a frog jumped into my lap. I gave him a funny look. "What is to be expected of me?" I asked the little amphibian. It simply stared back at me. I looked down at my dress. I looked like royalty. "Well, I am wearing the dress." I put out my hand and the frog jumped onto it. I brought the creature up to my face and kissed him. The little frog seemed to lean into my lips._

_The frog jumped from my hands and, upon landing on the ground, turned into a coyote. He winked an orange eye at me then took off at a trot. I heard him saying, "Oh Mari, you can expect me very soon."_

My eyelids fluttered open. Normally I'm not one who cares about dreams, probably because my dreams usually consist of memories in which I lost someone I loved. This dream, however, made me stop and take notice. I knew I needed to remember it. I didn't know why or how I knew it but I'd stopped questioning those things a while ago.

Gia appeared next to me, which was weird since normally she was right near me when I woke up. Gia, Connor, Erol and I had become used to sleeping all huddled up, leaving Desmond and Daydream to their couples cuddling. "Oh you're up," Gia said, sharply. "Good. Desmond told me to get you up so we can move out. He thinks we can make it to David and Tyler's camp by a little after midnight."

I nodded sleepily. "Where did you sleep last night?" I asked, curiously.

Gia scowled. "That's really none of your business now, is it?" She cocked a brow and turned away, swishing her hips as she walked away. Her indignant walk. Great. This was going to be a fun nearly seven hour car ride.

I sighed and got up to begin my day. I bent over to pick up my little overnight bag and when I stood up some familiar arms wrapped around my waist and a familiar face began to nuzzle my neck, sending shivers through my body. "C'mon, you've got to stop this," I managed to whisper, unconvincingly.

"I can't help myself," Erol chuckled. "You just smell so…delicious." I felt him smile against my skin.

"That's so creepy, Erol," I replied trying to laugh it off. It had been almost a year since he'd first kissed me. You'd think that, at some point, every part of my body would stop feeling electrified by his touch. His breath on my neck was almost too much to bear. And he knew it. Bastard…

Erol placed a sweet kiss on my neck then released his hold on me a little so I could turn to face him. He had a fairly satisfied smile on his face. He loved having that power over me. He claimed that I had so much power over him that he just took what he could get. I didn't see what he meant. How could I have power over him? "Morning sunshine," he said.

"It's not nice," I scolded, my voice breathy and betraying me. I was trying to seem at least moderately angry. It wasn't working because his smile only grew. "Seriously, Erol. I have things I need to concentrate on. Things…not you." As I spoke he pulled his fingers through my hair, making this concentration I was talking about a little difficult.

"We've fallen into a pretty regular pattern here Mari. It's not the war anymore…I don't see why you can't allow yourself to be…" His fingers trailed up my side. "Distracted." I sighed. He knew exactly how to get to me. I loved it and hated it equally.

He leaned in and kissed me before we heard someone clear their throat behind Erol. I looked around him to see an amused looking Connor. "Uh…not to break up the love fest but Desmond wants to leave…now. He's…pretty adamant about it."

"Why?" Erol asked, moderately disgruntled.

Connor laughed. "I'm not much for asking questions of Desmond. He commands me and I say 'sir, yes sir!' He's a mite scary sometimes."

"Good," I chuckled, wiggling out of Erol's grasp. "That fear will keep you alive."

I grabbed my few things and headed out, the boys following me and joking quietly until Connor said "Ow" loudly after being punched by Erol. I didn't care about them. I just wanted to get to David and help him. If Desmond wanted to leave in a hurry I had to assume there was a reason. Just as we were getting to the car I saw Astrid give Gia a long and intimate hug. Suddenly I had an idea of where Gia may have spent the night. Goddess, the vamps had me confused. One minute I was having thoughts of the naughty variety about Erol and the next I was mildly jealous of Astrid's a little too long embrace with Gia.

"You want me to break those two up?" Erol offered, always able to sense my mood.

I forced myself to chuckle. "No, no. I actually encouraged Gia."

Erol gave me a funny look. "Why?"

Just then Desmond spotted us. "Come on you guys!" he called, sounding like a drill sergeant. "I want to get a move on. Connor, didn't I tell you to hurry them?"

Connor glared at me. "See? Now I'm in trouble with the boss man!" I grinned and pushed him ahead of me.

Astrid put out her hand and gripped my forearm, as per traditional vampyre etiquette. So she saw me as a vampyre now. Weird. "Thank you for everything, ma'am," she said, sounding truly grateful.

"Of course, and you have our numbers so keep in touch. Ask us if you need anything and _please_ keep us up to date on that officer, Monica."

Astrid nodded. "Absolutely. Good luck with your friends."

A few more quick goodbyes plus Elise begging to come with us and we were off. Luckily, Gia couldn't give me the cold shoulder for long so the card ride wasn't too awkward. We traveled well together, this whole group. Generally Desmond, Connor and I traded off who drove (since the other three didn't drive), Gia and Daydream kept us happy and entertained with songs and Erol led us in trivia games (being the king of useless information). It was nice. We didn't really butt heads or anything. As much as I missed our other friends, like Jason and Jordan, it was nice to be low on drama and clashing personalities.

"Why did we leave in such a hurry?" Connor asked about three hours into our trip.

Desmond shook his head. "Those people…they just…"

"Desmond didn't like how self-centered they were," Daydream replied calmly.

"I believe the term I used was that they had their heads up their asses," Desmond growled. "But I guess that's a nice way of saying it, love." Daydream smiled. "They just…they act like they're the only ones having trouble, like no one else matters. Aside from that Elise girl not a one of them cares about anything going on outside their little makeshift hideout. While some of us are out there fighting they cower and expect assistance to just be handed to them." Desmond took a deep breath. If there was anything he hated it was people who didn't want to work for anything. Desmond grew up pretty poor and his mother, a single mother of five, refused to go on welfare or accept anything she hadn't worked hard for. Pride was something that ran deep in his blood. "Not to mention their unreasonable hate for humans," he concluded with an angry sigh.

Connor looked down at his lap. "Did they hate humans? I couldn't tell." He chuckled softly. He took vamps hating humans harder than I did. It hurt him to his core. See, he took up the fight without being forced to. He wasn't a vamp and he wasn't marked to be Bagged. He just thought it was a worthy fight. He was just a good guy, though and through. I was glad he'd somehow found our hideout in California. He wasn't the strongest or the smartest but he was dedicated.

After seven hours and a few wrong turns we were at our rendezvous point. We stood at a dock somewhere off the 78 which ran through Florida.

"So we just wait?" Gia asked Desmond, only to avoid asking me. Unfortunately for her Desmond didn't know what was going on.

"Yes," I sighed, getting a little tired of the cold shoulder which had quickly returned in the last hour. "Their actual place is on a little island not too far off. We have to take their boat there."

Desmond glanced around nervously. "So…I have to leave my car here?"

"It'll be fine, Des," Erol chuckled, rolling his eyes. Desmond loved his car.

"Seriously, Mari?" Desmond whined, yes the Son of Erebus _whined_. I nodded. "But what if something happens to it?"

I kept my eyes on the water. "It's only for a little while. David said there is a way we can ferry your vehicle over but it may be more trouble than it's worth."

I'm sure Desmond looked panic, based on the higher pitch his voice suddenly hit. "Mari!"

"Forget about the car, Des!" I shouted. "Look at the bigger picture here!"

"Spoken like a true leader," a voice growled from the shadows. I turned to see a young man skulking towards us, glaring at me. "Except what do you know of the bigger picture? You can't see past your own nose!"

I eyed the, clearly drunken, stranger. "Excuse me? You have no idea who we are so…please leave us alone."

"I know exactly who _you_ are. Filthy bitch," he laughed in a way that made my skin crawl.

"Pretty sure you don't," Erol growled in return.

The man bared his teeth at my vampyre protector. "Shuddap, disgusting monster." He looked at my friends. "Dirty, the whole lot of you. Just filth and perversion. You look normal and seem normal but you're simply monsters in disguise, feeding on our blood and trying to strong arm us until you're in control. Is that it?"

I slowly became aware of rustling coming from the darkness all around us. He had to have near seven buddies. "Look," I sighed, trying to keep my head and come up with a plan. "We haven't done anything. So if you'll just leave us alone we'll be—"

"Haven't done anything?" he shouted, a maniacal laugh behind his words. "My life has been wasted and it's all your fault." Okay…I hadn't heard this one before. Sure. You're filthy and dirty because you are clearly a vamp groupie. But it's your fault my life has been wasted? Not one I was familiar with. Then he pulled down his collar, revealing a barcode on the right side of his chest.

"Ultimate Bagger," I whispered, remembering what the placement of each barcode meant. "He was trained in that brainwashing facility," I informed my friends.

"Except I wasn't plucked off of the streets," he growled. "I volunteered."

I took a step forward, tired of this guy. "And you know what that means to me? That I can beat the crap out of you and not care."

The guy snarled and charged me, signaling for his buddies to come out of the shadows and take on my friends. I'm sorry to say it was a boring fight. The guys were completely trashed. I dodged a couple of drunken, but strong, swings from this ultimate Bagger before knocking him out. His friends weren't even trained, just drunk and angry. The fight was over before it even began and, due to short sightedness on our part, none of them were conscious to tell us how they knew we were here.

"Wow," a tall auburn haired guy called from the docks. "You guys sure know how to make friends." He chuckled and walked up to us, his grey eyes dancing with amusement.

"David?" Erol chuckled, breathlessly.

"Not David," I replied, grinning. "Hello Tyler," I sighed, grinning up at my friend's twin. They were almost entirely identical but I was able to tell them apart with ease.

Tyler bowed his head. "Mari, nice to see you again. And everyone else too!" We gathered around the tall guy as he surveyed our work. "I see you've met the local Van Helsing Brigade," he chuckled.

"They the ones you're having trouble with?" Connor asked, only moderately out of breath. "Cool, our work is done."

Tyler furrowed his brow. "No no…I think you misunderstood. Our problem is…well it has nothing to do with the locals." He glanced around, suddenly a little nervous. "Look, let's get out of here. You'll understand soon enough."


	5. The Trouble

_***Apparently I'm not doing short chapters these days.***_

"That charismatic fellow with the lovely barcode on his chest is Brandon," Tyler told us, over the roar of the boat engine. "He recognized me the moment we got down here. Told me he wouldn't let go of it, not without a fight."

Erol shook his head. "Let go of what?"

"The world," Gia sighed, before Tyler could respond. "He has his idea of a perfect world in his head, and it isn't just one implanted there by the government. He…" she paused, processing this man's mind. It was hard for her, seeing the darkness in certain people's paths. "He wants a world in which vamps are either controlled or disposed of. He has this idea of a world in complete peace because anyone who opposes the government is changed. Like the ultimate Baggers, spies, those fledglings and the PCs we broke out of the brainwashing facility."

Tyler nodded. "Yeah, he said about as much but in fewer words. Harder to talk when he's punching my face in," he chuckled.

Desmond gave the strange vampyre a funny look. "Right and _why_ don't you consider him your big problem? Because he certainly seems like a lot of trouble."

Tyler sighed and furrowed his brow, scrunching up the wispy mark across his forehead. "He's been some trouble for us, definitely, but nothing we couldn't handle." He looked over and smiled at me. "I don't know what you did but my brother has become something of a serious soldier. He trains our residents, to keep them ready in case we are attacked, and he makes sure someone is always on guard. Something you did changed him." I smiled and nodded purely because I didn't have the energy to argue that I hadn't done anything but put him in danger and give him a reason to kill his boyfriend. "No, the problem is a great deal worse."

I looked over to Daydream to see if she had some idea of what he was talking about. I even looked to Gia even though she had told me before that, for whatever reason, she couldn't read Tyler's lifeline. Tyler remained silent for the rest of our boat ride. It wasn't very long. The little strip of an island their place was on was a straight shot from the dock we had taken off from then we need only go around the north end of the island then head south before getting there. It was easy but I felt a little uncomfortable looking at the marshy land near us. It reminded me of my dream and made me…well, uneasy.

When we arrived on their side of the island pretty much every house had a dock. It seemed to be equivalent to a driveway. We docked at a white house which Tyler promptly explained was once owned by his grandfather and…something about it being a boarding house for a while. I don't know. The place seemed to have an energy about it.

Someone on the widow's walk flashed a light at us twice and Tyler responded with four flashes. He wasn't kidding about David's organizational skills. There were some shouts as we docked and soon David was rushing out to meet us. He ran at me, picking me up and twirling me around then doing the same for Daydream. He just shook the guys' hands and gave Gia a little hug. (She had informed him long ago that if he ever picked her up he would be in for a world of pain. Short people do not like being picked up.)

David grinned. "Thank you so much for getting here so quickly."

"Well, we would have been here sooner," Connor scoffed jokingly. " 'Cept Mari here had to save some people or other. Whatever."

David smiled at me. "Good to know little has changed."

"Yeah," I chuckled, clearing my throat. "Well, we hear you could use some saving."

David traded a glance with his brother. "Yeah…you've heard right. Come this way." As he led us into the house, which was filled with people staring at us, we met up with some that we'd fought with during the battle as well as the fledglings we'd gone to save after they were Bagged from under our noses. Lin's hair was growing back really fast, Daydream said it was what Chinese hair did, but poor Tara's head was still practically bald though she didn't seem to entirely mind nor did it look too bad on her.

When we got to the problem…I knew. There were four people in the room, three girls and one guy. Only one of the girls was a vamp who sat glaring up at me. Her tank top scooped down to reveal a barcode on her left breast. She was a genetic experiment. The guy and one of the girls had barcodes on their left wrists, marking them as PC projects. The guy stood in the corner, assessing my group, while the female PC sat in a ball on a cot. She wanted nothing to do with the world around her. The third girl sat in a chair staring out the window, with her legs drawn up into her chest and a long skirt covering her legs. She stared at the world outside like an infant contemplating its surroundings.

"What is this?" I whispered, because it was as loud as I could get my voice. This whole thing was entirely unsettling.

David looked sadly at the people in the room. "What does it look like Mari?"

"A bunch of the government's science experiments," Erol growled, staring at the helpless looking victims.

"Gone wrong," Gia whimpered. She backed out of the room and leaned up against the wall on the other side of the hall. "I can't…their stories are…well they're broken up and erratic and…I can't take them. I just…" Connor moved to Gia's side and ushered her back down the stairs to the first story.

I shook my head. "What happened?"

"Their programming went wrong," Tyler sighed, "just like the girl said. Whatever the sciency types were doing to these people messed them up in the long term."

I looked up at Tyler. "But that girl is a genetic experiment, like you."

"Genetic experiment yes," David replied.

"But like me, no," Tyler concluded. "Genetic experiments were…unique. See, with David and me it was all about examining and identifying. Why did I change? Where were the differences in our genetic coding? What were the similarities? But each one was different. Sonja here was meddled with. Once they identified certain properties in my experiments they tried to apply them to a small group of fledglings. They tried to force qualities in some and 'cure' others."

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped but Desmond jumped in before I could. "_Cure_? They wanted to cure them?" Anger practically radiated from the normally stoic Son of Erebus.

"Meddled with me first," Sonja sighed, in a raspy voice that told me she'd been doing a lot of yelling recently. "They tried to force an affinity and an Imprint, without drinking blood. Then…when that failed, they tried to cure me." Her grey green eyes looked into mine. "Turns out the combination was a bad idea." She gave a grim grin. "Hey I never got to say thanks for busting us out."

I nodded but it was really hard not to get emotional. This poor girl. "What about the others?" Daydream asked when I found myself mute.

"PC projects," the guy replied, coming away from the corner. He was uncomfortable being talked about. He pointed to the girl on the bed. "Karin was first generation PC. They uh…well they overloaded her."

"She's lucky to be alive," David sighed, tearing his eyes away from Karin. "The other first gens were not so lucky." The other PC scoffed. He didn't seem to think her life was very lucky. "See, the first generation of PCs actually had computer parts shoved into their brains. The others…essentially short circuited."

I looked at the male PC. "And you? What went wrong?" It was hard to keep my voice steady and even harder to keep my lips from trembling.

"I…uh…glitch sometimes," he explained, looking at the floor. "Words will trigger me and I'll suddenly start spouting off information or…"

"Or he'll start beating the crap out of anyone around him," Tyler added. "That's how we found him."

"In all fairness," Sonja chuckled, "they were a VHB. I mean, they were just getting drinks but…they deserved every blow." She smiled at the guy. "He's Phelan, by the way."

"Oh," I sighed. "Sorry, I'm just…"

Sonja and Phelan shook their heads. "No no," Sonja assured me. "It's a lot to take in."

"So what about her?" Erol asked, nodding to the girl who hadn't moved from the window.

"She calls herself Sarvajna," David sighed.

I cocked a brow. "Calls herself? It isn't her name?"

Tyler shook his head. "Sarvajna is old Sanskrit for all knowing." I stared at him. "Sanskrit? As in…Indian."

I nodded, understanding now. "Well, maybe it is her name. Maybe she's part Indian."

"Na mei guan-xi," Sarvajna laughed to herself.

"And then she does that!" Lin sighed, frustrated. "She speaks English then she goes all…Chinese on us. And I guess my Cantonese is crap because we cannot communicate at all. I mean…I know I ran away from Chinese school but I did learn some!"

Daydream smiled at the fledgling. "That's because she's speaking Mandarin sweety."

Lin looked confused for a moment but then her face lit up. "Oh! Well okay. Then my Cantonese is just fine."

"I've no doubt," Daydream chuckled. Then she turned to me. "Sarvajna said 'That has nothing to do with it.' I guess she means her ethnicity." Daydream hesitantly walked over to the girl. "Ni hao. Wo jiao Kongxiang. Daydream."

Sarvajna smiled. "Wo dui ni bu wen bu jian," she laughed, in a singsong sort of way.

Daydream straightened up. "What?" Erol asked. "What'd she say?"

"She said 'I neither see nor hear you'…" Daydream replied, airily. She was thinking. I could tell because she became incredibly distant when she did. I blamed it on her being a prophetess.

I walked up to Sarvajna. She looked up at me, appraising me. Then she lifted her skirt a little to show me a barcode on her right ankle. I thought back to what the positions meant. "Top secret, hush hush," I whispered, remembering what Jenn had told me the day I had met her.

Sarvajna grinned. "We mustn't speak of what we know," she informed me, her light brown eyebrows as far up on her forehead as they could go. "People will hurt."

I nodded. "Will the information hurt them or will people hurt them?"

"Yi yang," she sighed, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

"They're the same," Daydream translated.

Sarvajna put her forehead on her knees. I shook my head and tried to calm myself. I'd never been so angry and sad at one time before. I stood and faced the Norton twins. "What the hell is going on here?"

"It's happening all over," Tyler replied, sounding tired. "About a third of the people being kept in the testing facilities have begun losing it. We've been in contact with about twenty other groups who have a handful of freaked out experiments. Some of them…haven't been found in very lively states." He gave me a pained look. They were found dead, he just couldn't say it. He knew how I was feeling.

"It seems to be related to the drugs they were being given," David added, hesitantly. "Whatever it was has got them in serious withdrawal if nothing else."

I felt my chest tighten. I walked out of the room, down the stairs and out to the docks, passing Connor and a crying Gia on my way. Tyler, David, Desmond, Daydream and Erol followed me, as did Phelan and Sonja. I paced on the dock. "Crap. Crap, crap, crap." I stopped pacing and looked out at the water. "I was in such a rush to get them out of there. Why didn't I even consider that they would need medical attention?"

"Mari, you couldn't have known," Tyler sighed.

I spun around to see a very concerned looking group staring at me. "I had psychics and an inside scoop. I knew they were being messed with and drugged. I just didn't think. And now…" I took a deep breath. Beating myself up wouldn't help. I had to concentrate on the people I had accidentally wronged. "Alright…what can we do about this?" Everyone shrugged.

David gave me a hopeful look. "Have you spoken with…her? You know, since she left?"

I shook my head. "No, Jenn wants to stay gone. Which sucks because she's the only one I can think of to help us." I sighed and thought for a minute.

There was a noise from the house and we looked up to see Sarvajna stick her head out the window. "Ni-men dou shi shagua," she shouted, then pulled her head back inside and slammed the window shut.

Daydream put a hand on her hip. "Well now she's just insulting us."

_***Sorry if anyone actually speaks Mandarin here this is kind of...rough. Hehe. But I thought I'd try.***_


	6. Hands On

_***Alright, I'll clear this up. In China every region has their own dialect, you know just like everywhere else. The difference is that the dialects differ in tonality and tonality is a big thing. Up gliding on a syllable instead of keeping a steady tone can change the entire meaning of the word. So each dialect is more like its own language. The main dialects are Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese (Yue) and Win. So there you have it **_**almbookbuyer**_**. That's what Mandarin is. Hehe. Okay, I'm done being a geek. Back to the story.***_

We all broke apart, David and Tyler insisting that we take the rest of the night to relax after our trying journey. I couldn't rest, but I'm sure you already guessed that. David showed Desmond around, proudly telling him of his strategies and preparations. Daydream met all of the inhabitants of the place, assessing their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well beings. Gia, Connor and Erol put our things in the little room the Nortons were saving just for us. Gia was willing to do anything to stay away from those who overwhelmed her psychically. Sure, she'd been a pain in the ass the last couple of days but I still felt pretty bad for her. Getting all of those horrible events all at once. I couldn't even imagine.

I ended up walking towards the room where all the Coders, as they called themselves, slept. I didn't even realize that I was heading there until I stopped in the doorway. My mind was just on all those out there who needed help, who had been badly damaged by the scientists. I wondered where Jenn was and if she knew that this was going on.

"Ni hao ma?" Sarvajna said cheerily from her chair by the window. She was the only one in there.

I shook my head. "I don't speak Mandarin, only Daydream does."

"Wie gehts?"

I stared at the girl for a moment. "Was…was that German?"

Sarvajna grinned. "Many tongues in my one head." She looked so sweet and simple, so child like, but she couldn't have been much younger than me. Still, there was just this sense of newness and amazement in her. "I know most modern languages plus Sumerian, ancient Egyptian, Nahuatl—"

"Na-whattle?" I asked.

"Tongue of the Aztecs," she informed me, as though this was a serious matter.

"Do you have to speak them all? Isn't one language enough?"

Sarvajna smiled proudly. "Yizhong yuyan yongyuan bugou." I gave her an exasperated look. "One language is never enough," she explained, clearly thrilled to have this advantage over me.

I shook my head and sighed. "What did they do to you there?" I wasn't sure if I was asking her or just pondering aloud.

Sarvajna no longer smiled. "Top secret, hush hush."

"Right," I sighed. What did they do to this poor girl? "God, this is ridiculous. And…I'm really sorry we didn't anticipate your possible issues."

"Ssss," Sarvajna said, plainly. It could have been a hiss but she said it like it was an answer to something. Was this another language I didn't know?

"Ssss, what? What does ssss mean?"

"Godssss," she replied, exaggerating the s. "Many gods, one sky. Like many tongues in one head."

I furrowed my brow. "Yes, this is a fact of which I am painfully aware."

Sarvajna perked up like this was very exciting to her. "Oniquinittac coyotl," she whispered, secretively.

I stared at the girl, trying to stop my patience from wearing thin. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's na-whattle."

Sarvajna narrowed her eyes. "Na-hu-wattle. Breathe the h."

"Nahuatl," I corrected myself, to Sarvajna's delight. "Alright, still don't speak it."

"I saw coyote," she whispered the translation. "He looked bored. Asked when you'd be here. So I told him."

I shook my head, not quite understanding her meaning. "Coyote? How did you know when I'd be here?"

"How she knew isn't the important part," a voice said from behind me. I spun around to see a fairly muscular man with fairly dark skin and amber eyes. I couldn't tell his heritage at all. He looked like he might be Native American or African or Indian or South American or…Russian? Now how could he be Russian and so dark skinned? He could have been any of them and all of them. He was kind of beautiful in a strange way. He smiled wryly at me. "The important part is who is Coyote?"

I began to smile, not because what he said warranted a smile or anything just because he made me feel like smiling, then I stopped. I hadn't seen him around when I was meeting everyone and he definitely wasn't a vampyre. "Better question, who are you?"

He grinned in a predatory way. "I think these two questions are linked. Don't you agree Sarvajna?" I saw the girl nod out of the corner of my eye. He gave me an encouraging look but I simply continued to stare. "I am Eshu. I am Hermes. I am coyote, raven, Kokopelli and Gwydion. I am Anansi and I am Loki."

I stared, goose bumps covering my flesh. "The Trickster," I whispered in a reverent tone. "It was you in my dream. You were the frog I turned into a coyote."

The Trickster chuckled. "Maybe you're not as dense as they say you are."

I was torn from my admiration of being in the same room with the Trickster of lore. "Who? As dense as who says?"

"The other gods."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Great, good to know what gods I've never even met think of me."

"But they've met you," Sarvajna interjected. "When you weren't a thing. Just wind."

"She's a quirky one," The Trickster sighed, sitting down on a chair. "I like her. I wish more humans were like her."

I glared. "You wish other humans had their brains messed with to the point where they can't live normal lives?"

The Trickster leaned back in his chair. "She's observant and says just what she's thinking. It's admiral."

I shook my head, biting back a comment. "What is it you want…coyote?"

He squinted at me. "I give you a long list of names and that's what you choose to call me?"

"Nezha!" Sarvajna said giddily.

"Yes! That's my Chinese name. Good job little one."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine _Loki_, what do you want?" He gave me an inquiring look which bordered on hurt. His eyes implied that he had no idea why I was being curt with him. "I don't particularly trust tricksters. Something I've learned from mythology."

The Trickster stood and gave me a heated glare. "Interesting since I warned you about the Baggers coming for you." I must have looked as confused as I felt because he explained. "In the desert in California, I warned you. And then your little friend Lucas told you that coyote wasn't always bad. Remember?"

I paused, remembering the coyote I'd seen just before the Baggers came. No, not _just_ before. I saw the coyote then I argued with Lucas and then the Baggers came. And then, not long after, Lucas died. It was one of the last conversations I had with him, including the one in the land of the dead. Trickster had pulled the right string. Lucas had told me that coyote didn't always bring bad things but had gained a reputation for doing bad. Much like Lucas's reputation. I hadn't trusted Lucas at first. _Crap_, I thought.

"Fine," I sighed. "I'm listening. What's up?"

The Trickster smiled, satisfied with my attitude. "You know your place in this world, at least vaguely, yes?" I nodded. "Then you know that you are partially mine too." This wasn't a question but I nodded anyway. "Well there is something I need you to do for me."

I laughed, feeling a little manic. So much to do, so much to do. "I'm kind of working on something here."

The God put his hands up and grinned, walking toward me. "That's the beauty of it. We're talking about the same thing." I gave him a dubious stare. "No really, my needs and yours cross over this time around. And not for the last time, I assure you." His face became a little more serious. "I need you to take out those bastards who did this," he said coldly, gesturing toward Sarvajna.

I looked him over. "Why do you care?"

The Trickster shook his head, getting rid of his serious expression. "That's my business."

Sarvajna caught my eye and grinned. "Fine," I sighed. "If you want me to keep doing what I'm doing but you won't tell me _why_ you want it…then why speak to me at all?"

"Because," he sighed, smirking and stepping closer to me, "I'm not like Nyx. She gives you little pushes but ultimately doesn't interfere. And that works out great for her. I like to help my subjects. If you need me at all, just call for me and I'll be there." Suddenly I noticed that he was a little too close for comfort. He grinned devilishly. "I'm a more hands on deity."

I have NO IDEA why I let him kiss me. Like, I saw him moving in for the kiss and I didn't move. I don't really remember it. All I know is that one second his lips are on mine and the next he disappears into thin air. Sarvajna cleared her throat then nodded to the doorway, where I saw Erol and Gia looking hurt and confused. "Tricky bastard," I sighed.


	7. Moving Forward

_***Super short and SUPER late. I'm sorry. Stupid adult type things got in my way. Namely, jury duty. But I'm back and the chapters after this will be much better and closer together. Thanks to those who still bother to read my stuff. Ya'll keep me going.***_

"A god?" Connor repeated, in awe. "A god came and talked to you. That's…whoa." He thought for a moment. "He didn't happen to mention me being his, did he? Because that would be convenient."

I shook my head. "I didn't really get the chance to ask him."

"Oh yes," Erol sighed, "what with him kissing you and all." He suppressed a chuckle. Once I'd told him who the Trickster was he immediately found the whole situation funny. Like, to an annoying extent. Gia, however, almost seemed to not believe me. If she hadn't been able to read my lifeline I think she would have told me I was a liar.

"But a GOD?" Phelan said excitedly. "A god was in our room. A god spoke to you! Just…wow." The thrilled PC paced, flailing his arms about as he spoke. He was a lot more animated than I had suspected at first. "And a god supports us. I mean…we _were_ planning on going after those guys, right?"

Gia, Desmond, Daydream and I exchanged a little glance. "Well, the first thing you must understand is that, god though he is, this is the Trickster we're talking about," Daydream sighed, sounding more like a grandmother telling a fable than a young woman talking about something we'd just encountered. "He likes to make a mess of things and his version of right doesn't necessarily mesh with ours. His 'help' could just as easily hinder us as actually help us."

"Also," Desmond added. "We didn't exactly plan on 'taking out' the people who could hold the key to helping the people they experimented on. Just…helping you guys." Phelan nodded dejectedly. I understood his need for vengeance. Those people held him there and used him like a little science experiment. He had all of his rights stripped from him. It was unimaginably horrible, but vengeance wasn't an option.

Tyler shook his head. "You say Sarvajna knew he was coming?"

I nodded. "She did say so…in the most cryptic way possible." Tyler grinned. "She seemed to have some kind of relationship with him…I dunno. Maybe I'm imagining it."

"You could always ask her…" David started.

"But she's not real forthcoming," Tyler finished for his twin.

The brothers shared a grin. "I suppose Gia could always—" David sighed.

"No," I interrupted, practically feeling Gia's fear. She'd just had a little taste of what those people had gone through and had to run from the room. I couldn't bear the thought of her actively perusing poor Sarvajna's life. "No, we don't really have to worry about this just yet. I just…I thought you guys should know. We should just remember this until we need it. For now we need to focus on finding and collecting all those who are suffering from the government's past interference.'

Connor nodded. "It sure would be helpful if Lucas was here. He could—"

Silence filled the room. Even the people who had no idea what was going on seemed to fall into the awkward silence. I grimaced. "Yeah, astral projection would be helpful but we can't do that. So let's move on." I stood and left the room, putting on the confident General air I had rid myself of several months before.

I stood outside, facing the water. I breathed in the salty and somewhat rotted smelling air. I was depressed…I would admit it. There was a large part of me, a naïve part mind you, that really thought freeing the vamps and showing the world what was happening in that facility would be the end of it. I didn't think about what those I'd freed might go through. I definitely didn't think that those being experimented on would have adverse side effects.

"I don't think," I sighed to myself. "That's the problem.


	8. Vignettes

_***Alright, this is a bit longer than the last one...though not much. I love doing these little vignettes. First person narrative gets annoying after a while. Since I'm doing this story and writing a novel in first person, it's getting old. The words I, me, my and mine become almost painful after a while. Anyhoo. Enjoy!***_

It had been nearly a week since they'd arrived on the little island and Gia had managed to hardly speak to Mari pretty much the entire time. Mind you, she wasn't always sure if Mari noticed…but she felt moderately accomplished anyway. She was going to be mad at Mari, no matter how difficult it was.

On that sixth day since their arrival Erol finally said, "Alright. I give. Why are you giving Mari the cold shoulder? I don't get it."

This wasn't a surprise to Gia. As far as she was concerned, Erol didn't get much that went on around him. "I'm not…you wouldn't understand," she sighed, cringing at her own drama.

"Is this about Mari encouraging you to make a move on that Astrid chick?" Gia's jaw dropped. Maybe Erol wasn't so oblivious. "Mari mentioned something about suggesting it but wouldn't say anymore. Care to…expound?"

Gia pursed her lips and stared out at the moonlit water. They sat on the dock, everyone else inside. Gia kicked her legs, wishing her legs were long enough for her feet to touch the water. "She's trying to get rid of me," Gia finally sighed, kind of pathetically. She knew she was being pathetic but it was just Erol. He knew something about being weakened by Mari. "She's scared and so she wants to push me away."

"Well yeah," Erol scoffed. "You say that like it's a surprise." Gia turned to glare at Erol. This was not the response she had expected.

"Well it was a surprise to me!" Gia shouted, indignantly. Erol's smile only angered her further. "Fine, you can laugh and think it's so funny. You don't understand."

"Sure I do," Erol sighed with a shrug. "She's tried to get rid of me a bunch of times since we left the underground city." Gia stared at Erol, her big brown eyes assessing him. "What? You thought you were the only one she wanted to scare off?"

Gia opened her mouth to speak then remembered her argument with Mari.

"_I don't see you telling Erol to move on and flirt with some hottie."_

_"Well I haven't told you to do so until just now. There's a first for everything. Besides…I planned on pushing him to look elsewhere too."_

Gia shrugged. "She made it sound like she hadn't done anything to push you away yet."

Erol chuckled. "Oh she has, she's just secretive about it. Just like she didn't say anything to me about you. Also, may I point out that she is MUCH pickier when it comes to picking chicks out for you? Seriously, she's thrown me at anyone who so much as batted an eye at me. At least that Astrid chick is pretty hot." He grinned to himself and Gia rolled her eyes, waiting for him to come back from the fantasy world men drift off to when thinking about lesbians. He shook his head and eyed little Gia. "Just curious…did you do anything with Astrid?"

Gia punched Erol in the arm, though it hardly affected him at all. "Not really," Gia sighed, feeling color rise to her cheeks. "We kinda…talked all day and then she…kissed me. A little. Not even a long kiss." Erol just kept grinning. "Oh get your filthy mind away from me," Gia laughed, shoving Erol.

Erol smiled, resisting the urge to hug the little vampyre. He'd do anything for a smile, even pretend to be a letch. "Just…quit acting mad at Mari. I'm not sure she completely gets it and she really needs us right now."

Gia shook her head, though she wasn't as cranky as she had been when she'd come out here. "She still tried to get rid of us Erol."

"Yeah, because she doesn't want us hurt. It's Mari's warped way of looking out for us. Just means she cares." Gia thought about that for a moment then sighed. She was tired of being mad and she missed Mari a lot. "So…what did you and Astrid talk about all day?"

"What do you think?" Gia sighed, staring out at the water. "We talked about Mari…"

* * *

><p>Connor and Sarvajna sat across from one another. Connor stared into Sarvajna's eyes, unblinking, and Sarvajna stared back with a grin plastered across her face. She seemed to think this was a fun game. In reality, Connor was trying desperately to feel useful. He thought that if he tried hard enough he could trigger a vision. He'd yet to learn how to control them but he could always try. He wanted a vision of...something. Anything. Something that might help them figure out exactly what happened to this poor girl. Maybe he'd see what medicines they used or something.<p>

"What?" a voice chuckled from the doorway. "Are you trying a Vulcan mind meld or something?" Connor fell out of his chair and turned to see Sonja smiling down at him. "Because I've got to tell you, there's no way that will turn out well. We'll just have another crazy person on our hands.

Connor jumped to his feet, his eyes wide. For some reason he was always tongue tied around this vampyre. _For some reason_? Who was he kidding? He knew why. She was beautiful. Her dark Japanese hair always seemed to be billowing around her shoulders. Her Mark, blue flames guarding the crescent moon in the center, was brilliant against her soft porcelain skin and her soft brown eyes seemed to look right through him.

"I'm," he started, pausing when his voice cracked. "I'm trying to induce a vision or…something _helpful_." He put an emphasis on the last word because just the night before Sonja, during one of her frustrated fits, had screamed at him that he was useless and needed to find a way to be helpful. That was the main reason he was doing this. Not to impress her. She'd already expressed a distaste for romance so that would be a lost cause. He just wanted her respect. He thought. He wasn't certain.

Sonja looked him up and down in an appraising manner. He felt naked but did his best not to show it. "Sorry about that," she sighed, leaning against the door frame.

Connor scratched his head. "It's fine…"

"Dýskoli stigmí," Sarvajna giggled in a sing song manner.

Sonja shook her head. "It's really screwed up the way they messed with her."

"With all of you," Connor sighed, giving Sonja a hard look before turning to Sarvajna. "I just want to find some way to help. I don't have great powers like some of you…but I'm working with what I've got." When he turned back to Sonja she was staring at him.

"There aren't many humans like you," she sighed.

"Sure there are," Connor replied, though he wasn't entirely sure what she meant.

"Hai. Koko de karera ga kuru," Sarvajna said excitedly.

Sonja furrowed her brow. "That one I understood." Connor gave her a curious look. "That was Japanese. Basically, she said 'Here they come'."

Connor turned to stare at Sarvajna with Sonja. "They who?"

* * *

><p>Daydream had passed out, scaring the hell out of Desmond. He was used to this, sort of. It happened a lot when she needed to have visions but was not already asleep. Didn't stop terrifying him. She tossed and turned in his arms. Desmond began stroking her hair and repeating the only Mandarin he knew. "An ning. An ning," he whispered to his mate. It meant calm, tranquility. He often did this, both to calm her mind so she wouldn't struggle and to calm himself to keep from losing his mind.<p>

Finally her eyelids fluttered open. "What was it, love?" Desmond asked, grateful to see her skin regain its natural blush.

Daydream sat up and looked around. "There were people…three of them, coming from the water. Each were followed by a different large figure. They had invitations in their hands and gave them to Mari." She stared towards the nearest window. "Somewhere, a coyote was laughing."

Desmond touched his mate's cheek and she returned to him. "But what does it mean?"

Daydream smiled and kissed Desmond softly. "It means we have some visitors coming."

_***This time I want to apologize to anyone who speaks Greek or Japanese. I'm doing my best. :) ***_


	9. They

I had just been sitting there eating a bowl of cereal when everyone came rushing in, talking at me all at once. Desmond, Daydream, Connor, Sonja, Erol and Gia all began speaking excitedly. My spoon hung in midair, a few inches short of my mouth which was wide open and ready to take a bite. Seriously. These people couldn't let me be during breakfast? I put my spoon down and turned to face them all.

"One at a time!" I shouted. There was a pause and then they all began speaking at the same time again. I rolled my eyes. "Let's try this again!" Everyone quieted. "Um…I think Sonja and Connor were here first."

"We were talking and then suddenly Sarvajna started spouting off about these people," Connor said quickly, like he was worried someone would interrupt him. "She said 'They're coming' and 'Here they come'. She kept getting excited and saying it in all different languages. I mean…she said it in a bunch of languages we understood so we just assumed it's what she was saying in the ones we didn't understand."

"Anyway!" Sonja continued, smiling at Connor's babbling. "Then we asked her 'Who is coming? Who are they?' And she said they were people like Connor."

I cocked a brow. "Like Connor? How's that?"

"Human, only more," Connor said. "So humans who have special abilities."

Desmond raised his hand. "This actually segues into our news! Can um…can we share now, teacher?" I narrowed my eyes and opened my mouth to retort. "Daydream had a vision." That shut me up.

"It's really just along the same lines as what Sarvajna was saying," Daydream said, all calm and casual. "There are three humans coming, each one blessed by a different god." She gave me a serious look. "They seem to have been sent by your new best buddy, Coyote."

I sighed and stood to pace, tugging at my hair. "Alright…then I suppose we need to make some preparations, plans in case they are…less than helpful. How long until they get here do you think?"

"Probably only a minute, since you made us wait so long," Gia growled. I stared at her. She'd been so ornery with me lately.

"What she means," Erol sighed, placing his hands on Gia's shoulders to calm her down, "is that we saw a boat, with three figures on it, slowly coming toward our dock. That's what we came in here to tell you." We all began rushing out the door. A few of our Warriors stood by the dock. I heard Erol whispered to Gia, "Well, in her defense she didn't _know_ our news was time sensitive."

I rolled my eyes and focused on the dock. Sure enough three figures stepped off a boat and walked slowly towards us, their hands in the air. "We're unarmed," the tall brunette man told us, in an English accent.

The blonde woman, who, to be perfectly frank, was possibly the most gorgeous woman I'd ever seen, gave our warriors a flirty look and said "Of course, you can frisk me to be certain." The warriors shifted nervously. I scoffed. No matter how strong the man put a pretty woman in front of him and you'll soon find a bowl of jelly in his place.

"I believe you are expecting us," the English guy said confidently, staring me in the eye.

I opened my mouth to reply but the shorter tan guy, he looked like he was of some kind of Latin American decent, growled, "Oh quit being all cryptic." He gave me an exasperated look. "Sorry, he's too theatrical. We were summoned by Anansi."

"I thought we were calling him Loki," the English guy sighed, as if we didn't have weapons trained on him.

The blonde scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought we were referring to him as 'The manipulative assho—"

"Mollie," the English guy scolded.

The blonde, Mollie, sighed. "Fine, whatever. He's not even our god. I don't see why _I_ should pay him any respect."

The short guy grinned. "Because he's the Trickster, stupid. He can do whatever he wants to you. He can change the tides of fortune faster than you can flip your hair."

Mollie prepared to respond but the English guy interrupted. "Look, by now I _know_ you know why we're here." He smiled but I gave him a blank stare. "Well…at least I know that your friends know. You I can't pick up on…"

"Coyote said that you and the vamps would be needing some extra muscle," the short guy sighed. He really was tired of his companions. "He told us about how the vamps that were experimented on were all screwed up. Said you would know what to do with us."

Gia laughed. I gave her a concerned look. "Sorry just…Trickster guy seriously doesn't know you if he thinks you've come to a decision in a _week_."

David, who had arrived a moment before, grinned. "Yeah, you are not exactly she of the fast decision making." He eyed our visitors. "Who are they?

The British guy smiled and stepped forward. "I'm so sorry, where are our manners? This is Mollie, high priestess of Aphrodite." The blonde gave a flirty wave and suddenly her entire presence made sense to me. "This…pleasant young man is Daniel, a servant of Tepoztecatl."

Sonja scrunched up her face. "Wait wait…I think I should know this one."

British dude nodded. "The Aztec god of fertility and drunkenness."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Thank you for oversimplifying it."

"My pleasure," he replied, not losing his polite demeanor. "I am Michael, a servant of the great Odin." He turned Connor. "By the way, Odin is also the god to whom you belong. One reason I was encouraged to come out here was to teach you about your abilities."

Connor looked stunned. "O-Odin?" Michael nodded. "He's like…a god of war. I don't think my abilities are very…battle centered."

Michael cringed. "Hah!" Daniel laughed. "How does it feel to have your god oversimplified like that?"

"Yes…well," Michael conceded. "Odin is…in fact attributed to war and the like but he's also the god of magic and wisdom and prophecy and poetry and—" Michael abruptly stopped and stared at Connor. "You get prophetic visions? Fantastic!"

Connor looked over at me for some kind of answer. "Excuse me? I never said that I could—"

"Oh, sorry," Michael said, though he didn't seem sorry. "I am able to read minds. The, eh, magical aspect of Odin's grace. I'm also brilliant at writing poetry though," he added with a charming smile.

"That's debatable," Mollie giggled. "Oh and, before we oversimplify _my_ goddess, she's not just the goddess of beauty, love and sex. She also governs music, dance and childbirth. The Greeks just…didn't concentrate on that part. Think part Aphrodite and part Hathor, the Egyptian goddess." The men around me nodded but I don't think they actually listened to a word she said. Her pretty green eyes landed on me. "I'm sure _you_ get it. You're hers too. I can tell by the number of people in love with you or at least lusting after you here." She smiled at Gia who blushed. I squirmed. I…I hadn't thought anyone other than Gia and Erol thought about me at all.

"Mollie," Michael chuckled, uncomfortably, "do…shut up." Mollie rolled her eyes but complied.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Erol's blue eyes staring into me. "Mari, honey. We're kind of waiting on you."

I glanced around and suddenly noticed that everyone was looking at me. "Umm…right. Me. With the…uh…decisiveness."

Tyler smiled. "Why don't we at least take them inside?" he whispered. "Find out what they know about Coyote's little plan." I nodded, appreciatively, and reiterated what he'd said. I had been fine and…somewhat in control until Mollie had gone off on the Aphrodite speech.

We went inside and took everyone into the dining room down stairs. We had to shoo a bunch of people away leaving only David, Tyler, Desmond, Daydream, Erol, Gia, Connor, Sonja, the three new comers and me, plus a couple of Sons of Erebus who refused to leave us alone with strangers.

"Alright," I sighed. "Talk."

Michael smiled. "Do give us a subject, luv."

"Start with your abilities," Gia growled. I wasn't entirely used to her growling at people who were…you know…not me. "What kind of muscle can you provide, per se?"

Daniel stood and grinned. He looked like a really excited four year old. "Check this," he said before disappearing with a popping sound, leaving a blue and purple wisp of smoke where he once was. Then I heard the popping again, behind me, and turned to see Daniel sipping a frosty bottle of beer.

"We don't _have _beer here," Tyler said, carefully.

"I know," Daniel replied with a nod. "I got it from a house on that private island a little ways away."

We all stared, jaws dropped. "So you can teleport?" Erol asked. I could practically SEE the geek in him getting excited.

Daniel thought for a moment. "Yes…ish. I mean, it's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the simple version. It's essentially all about illusions and pulling through realities." Again we all just stared. "I can also create illusions, also considered 'bending reality'. It's pretty cool, I can't lie."

David shook his head. "How can the god of drunkenness have a servant who creates illusions and stuff?"

Daniel cocked a brow. "Never heard of beer goggles? Alcohol can make you feel, see, do and say a lot of strange things. I'm surprised you have to ask." He grinned, casually sipping his beer.

"Fair enough," I chuckled, then I turned to Mollie. "And you?"

Mollie gave a brilliant smile. "I'm empathic, so I know what everyone around me is feeling. It's useful in undercover situations, if nothing else. Also, I'm a highly proficient spell caster, which I've heard you two have been delving into." Connor and I nodded. "So that assho….ahem I mean, the Trickster thought that we could work on some spells. If I get you two up a few levels we could be quite the tour de force." On any other person, her grin would have been Cheshire Cat-like, but not on her. I had an awful twinge of envy. I wanted to be that kind of gorgeous. Seriously. Mollie gave me a sweet smile and I suddenly remembered that she was empathic.

I shifted uncomfortably then looked over at Michael. "Alright, how about you? Can you do more than just read minds?"

Michael smiled. "I can read minds as well as communicate with them."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes," Michael chuckled. "I would love to demonstrate for you but…I can't seem to get into your mind in any way, shape or form. It's like…a wall around your mind. Any insight as to why?"

My friends smiled. "A psychic friend of mine built it for me. Said I might need it." Jordan had insisted. He couldn't come with us, he and Althea were going to stay behind and open a House of Night in the hidden city, so he built a psychic wall around my mind that even _he_ couldn't penetrate. He felt safer letting me go with some protection. "Now I'm glad. I don't particularly like my thoughts being picked through," I said, somewhat threateningly. Michael seemed unaffected and just smiled.

"Why did the Trickster send you guys? And why did your gods allow another god to boss you around?" Erol asked, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

David perked up. "Well, Odin is Loki's father! So that explains that!" He looked so proud.

The three new arrivals cringed. "While that is the story in Norse, Odin-centric mythology," Michael said, carefully, "it's not _actually_ true. The Trickster appears in all mythology throughout the world and each give him a birth. For example, Hermes, the trickster messenger god, is the son of Zeus."

"Basically, sweety," Mollie sighed, "ignore the creation myths. They'll get you every time." She turned to Erol. "As for why our gods sent us…well that's between the Trickster and them. Maybe he persuaded them or maybe he blackmailed them. Or maybe they agreed with his cause…who knows? We just follow their commands. You ever question Nyx?" All of the vamps around me shook their heads, vigorously. _Well that's not right,_ I thought to myself. _Who doesn't question orders every once and a while?_ "It's the same with us," Mollie continued. "We go where we're told and do what we're told."

Sonja, who seemed to be the only one to see the discomfort on my face, quickly told the three that she knew just where to set them up and that I needed some rest.

"Before you go," I called out. "Did the Trickster mention what we were supposed to be doing."

"No," Daniel replied. "Just said that you'd be in charge of us and we should do what you say."

Sonja, Tyler, the Sons of Erebus and Connor led them away while everyone else remained. They stared at me like I was going to pull a rabbit out of my hat. What were they expecting of me? Was I supposed to have some brilliant plan at the ready? I had no idea what I was going to do. How was I going to help those poor people who were losing their minds? How was I going to make all this right?

"Mari," Daydream finally sighed. She hadn't spoken the entire time I'd almost forgotten she was there. She'd been quiet which meant she'd been listening, analyzing. I'd be getting an earful later. "Why don't you pour yourself another bowl of cereal and then don't talk to anyone for a while. You look like your brain is going to explode." I laughed. She was so adorable when she delicately said things like that. Her threat of "I'm going to kill you" was always a hoot.

Desmond handed me a bowl, smiled, then turned on everyone else in the room. "You heard Daydream, everyone OUT!" Everyone began to scatter. Desmond placed a hand on my shoulder, encouraging me to sit, and then Daydream kissed my forehead before they left. They _really _took care of me.

Before I could pour the cereal Gia snuck back into the room. I set the cereal box down and stood. Oh how I did not want her to yell at me right now. She had no reason to yell but she'd find one. "Yes?" I sighed.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay," Gia whispered, clearly afraid Desmond would realize she'd returned. "I mean…you don't like the Trickster's interference and these people are…well they're a lot to take in." I gave her a funny look. "What?"

"You just feel guilty that you didn't warn me about them, don't you?"

Gia nodded. "Kind of…" Then she gave me a sweet smile. "Are you mad at me?"

"Come on Gia," I sighed. "I've told you before that you can't _possibly_ warn me about everything."

"Yeah but…" Gia looked down at her feet. "I just didn't warn you because I've been too busy being mad at you this week."

"Oh…whatever. It's cool." Gia smiled and pulled my face down to hers, kissing me. Normally she tried to sneak playful little kisses because she knew I didn't want her and Erol kissing me, but this was different. There was a new kind of passion there. It was hard to complain about her breaking the kissing rule. She pulled away and gave me a triumphant grin. "Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?"

Gia looked my face over. "Mari, can I ask you something? Do you know_ why_ I was mad at you?"

I bit my lip, nervously. "Will you be mad again if I say 'no'?" Gia laughed and kissed me again. She turned to leave the room. "Where are you going?"

"I owe Erol $10," she called over her shoulder.

**_*Hey! What do you know? No languages I have to apologize for slaughtering! Yay! Also, not going to apologize for the tiny Mari/Gia scene. Ya'll know the relationship exists, deal with a short scene. :D Also, have a happy and safe 4th of July American readers. Well...everyone else too...be safe every day. But Americans...just...don't set off fireworks in your hands and lose fingers, okay? Great!*_**


	10. Next

_***Haha, oops. I thought I posted this a week ago. My bad! Here you go.***_

The next day I brought the new people into the Coders' room. Mollie sat on the side of Karin's bed, holding her hand while Michael sat in a chair across from Sarvajna, who looked positively giddy. "This poor woman," Mollie sighed, brushing a single tear from her face. "She feels so lost. She's fully present…hell, she's more present than the rest of us." She turned to face me. "She can feel every change in her body and the air around her. She's hyper aware. It's what has brought her to this state. She just kind of…overloaded."

"That sounds about right," Phelan sighed. "She could smell a change in the weather coming or when the number of people in an area changed. She…she said the wind told her. She was already kind of crazy when I joined her group."

Mollie shook her head. "That wasn't insanity, it was misunderstanding. If one becomes completely in tune with the world around them then they can feel when the wind blows differently or has a slightly different scent to it." Mollie put a hand on Karin's cheek. "She's really quite extraordinary." The passion with which Mollie spoke made her even more beautiful. Even Phelan, who I had learned was gay, stared at her like she was a goddess come to earth.

"This is amazing," Michael chuckled. "She thinks at the speed of a million thoughts per second."

"Sie ubertreiben," Sarvajna scolded jokingly.

Michael laughed. "I'm only exaggerating by a little," he replied. He looked over to me. "It's amazing. I can hardly read her thoughts. She has so many going all at once in all different languages it's like…it's like a giant multicultural fair going on in her head equivalent to the population of Tokyo."

I nodded. "Many tongues in her one head." Sarvajna grinned at me.

"I have no idea what that means," Michael replied bluntly, continuing to examine Sarvajna.

The girl looked at me and rolled her eyes. "So self centered this one is," she sighed, though Michael hardly noticed.

I tried not to laugh then mouthed to her _Be nice._ Sarvajna shrugged then stared back at Michael. I left Tyler, Sonja and Phelan to watch the new people and went down the stairs toward the dock. I flopped down in one of the large lounge chairs by the dock. I stared up at the moon, which would be full in a few hours, and the beautiful starry sky. There wasn't a cloud in the sky which made the breeze a little chilly. Autumn was still a month and a half away but I could tell by the breeze that we'd have an early one. I could always smell season changes. Kind of like what Mollie had been saying about Karin. It was just a different smell on the wind.

Gia walked up, derailing my train of thought, and plopped down next to me on the wide chair. She smiled at me then looked up at the moon. I examined her, cautiously. "You're not going to try and seduce me are you?" I asked, half joking. "Because I'm not going to let you get away with it this time, missy!"

"No," Gia laughed. "I'm here purely in a friend capacity."

"Oh," I said happily, grinning. "That's nice….wait." I sat up and narrowed my eyes at her. "So I'm going to need a friend? What's wrong?"

Gia rolled her eyes. "Calm down, Mari." I waited but she didn't deny my suspicions. She placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me so I was lying next to her on the lounge chair. "It's okay. Just be here with me in the moment. Stop worrying about what's to come. You do enough of that."

I shook my head, looking up at that beautiful moon. "I do it, sure, but not enough. If I thought—"

"Oh blah blah!" Gia sighed, propping herself up on one elbow to look down at me. "So the people that you freed are crumbling. It sucks, yeah, but it's not because of anything you did, you moron."

"Hey," I started to retort but Gia gave me a warning look which said _SHUT UP._

Gia narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. "They were being experimented on. Stuff was being put into their bodies. They were trying to change poor Sonja's basic genetic structure!"

I closed my eyes. "I know what they were doing. Please…don't remind me."

Gia tapped my forehead and I opened my eyes. "But _you_ got them away from that. Okay? Stop doing this stupid tortured thing. It's terribly unattractive."

I wrapped my arms around Gia's shoulders, hugging her tightly until she complained that I was sucking the life out of her. When I let go she laughed and put her head on my shoulder. "Thank you," I sighed. Despite any romantic feelings either of us may or may not have had, Gia was one of my best friends. She was one of the few I had let get close to me. "But I do have to think about what we do next."

"I know…it makes you a good leader," Gia said, smiling. "Even the Trickster thinks you're a good leader."

"What?"

Gia lifted her head to look at me. "He could have just sent some of his subjects or something to do his bidding. Instead, he sends some powerful humans to serve you." I began to argue but stopped. Why did he send them to aid me? But I didn't have much time to consider it because Gia started talking about the stars. I told her what I thought the constellations were and she…corrected me. Apparently Orion isn't in the sky during the summer, no matter how many groupings of three stars you see. I didn't know.

I don't even remember what we were laughing about when Tyler came out. I'd never seen him look sad before. It was painful. "Tyler?" I asked, standing up. "What's wrong?" Gia remained seated because she _knew_ what had happened.

"Karin uh…Karin passed away," Tyler sighed, his eyes red.

I shook my head. "I was…I was just up there. She was fine!"

"A minute or two after you left Mollie started telling us that Karin was afraid. That she could feel her body…erupting, she said." Tyler couldn't speak anymore.

"The equipment in her head and around her more vital organs finally overheated," Gia sighed softly from the chair. Her big brown eyes met my gaze. "She…she basically burned from the inside out."

My eyes widened then I looked over at Tyler. He was actually crying now. Angry tears. "She was in so much pain," he finally managed to choke out. "I knew it. She would look at me like…" He balled his hands into fists. "She would look at me like she wanted me to kill her. Put her out of her misery. She didn't deserve that kind of death."

I hugged Tyler, putting my head against his chest, and he cried into my hair. He honestly blamed himself for her painful death. He couldn't have known what she was feeling or how painful her death would be. _He's worse than you_, a voice told me. I still can't be certain where the voice came from. If it was a god or a ghost or just my subconscious mind. All I knew was that it was right.

And just like that, I knew what we needed to do.

* * *

><p>"Look," Phelan sighed. "I agree, we need to do something but…split up?"<p>

There was a clamor of people agreeing with him. "We can do it," I replied loudly. "You guys are extremely tough. I mean…this place is great. It's safe. But if there's one thing I learned from the war it's that trouble _will_ find you. We can't just sit around. There are people out there, like Phelan and Sonja and Sarvajna—"

"And Karin," Tyler added.

I nodded. "And Karin. People out there who need help. It's too much to expect them to come to us. We need to find them and help them. Scour the country looking for them."

"It's a lovely thought," Lin sighed. "But, and I don't mean to simply be a naysayer, what good can _we _do for them? We have no idea how to help them." Some people murmured in agreement.

"I'm more than a little aware of that. Which is why I'll be leading a group to find some people who will be so gracious as to help us out."

"How?" Tara asked, softly. "How will you find them?"

Mollie stood. "With Sarvajna's help I can do an extremely potent locator spell. Find all of them. Well…all of the living ones at least. And, since Michael and I are psychics of sorts that will probably be of some use."

"And the other Coders?" Lin asked. "How will we find them?" Some people turned to glare. "Again, not nay saying. I just want to be sure all of our bases are covered."

I smiled. "It's okay, Lin."

"It will take some concentration," Gia sighed, "but I think I could easily find some. I'll just have to look through connecting lifelines…" She trailed off when she realized that no one else understood what she was talking about. "I…I can do it."

A redheaded Son of Erebus, named Eric, raised his hand. "I can sense vampyres and their abilities. With vampyres who have been meddled with their presence is…altered. So that's kind of helpful. I mean…I can't sense humans but—"

"Good enough," I replied with a smile. Then I looked out at everyone. "Any other suggestions? Any…complaints about this idea?"

David stood and walked over to me. "You're our general, Mari. We'll do as you say."

"No," I replied. "I'm not…I won't be the one to give orders. I want this to be a group effort. We aren't at war anymore. We're cleaning up after it. In war there is no room for voting or whatnot. There must be one voice, and it happened to be my voice. But in life we all have choices to make all of the time."

"Fine," Tyler chuckled, despite the depression which was clear in his eyes. "Let's put it to a vote. Those in favor?" All but three or four people raised their hands. "Those opposed?" Two of those people raised their hands. Tyler turned to me. "The ayes have it."

"Good," I sighed. "We have no time to waste."


	11. Worries

I stared at Gia as she calmly packed her few meager belongings. "How can you be so…blah?"

She paused, turned to me and arched a dark eyebrow. "Blah?" she asked with a smirk. "Are we playing fill in the adjective or something? Hmm…perhaps blah means—"

"You know what I mean," I sighed. "You tell me that you and Erol won't be with me like you've just mentioned that we're having peas for dinner."

Gia made a face. "Mari, you know I hate peas."

I flopped down on her bed. "Goddess, Gia will you quit it? You're not going to joke me out of this."

She sighed and tossed the jacket she was folding into her bag. "You think we like it any more than you? Because we don't. I've never been afraid of Erol in my life but I swear he considered killing me when I told him." She knelt on the bed beside me. "It's just…something you have to do. Besides, you know I'm needed for sniffing out the experiments."

True, somewhere in the rational part of my brain, I knew this. Luckily I was still rational enough to stop myself from asking _Well why can't I have Erol then? _That probably would have pissed Gia off beyond belief. Instead I asked, "_What_ do I have to do? And don't start with the cryptic talk, if I want that I'll talk to Daydream or Connor."

Gia laughed. "Fair enough. Look…we've all been at your side for a while. You rely on us, don't you?" I opened my mouth to argue but she was right. "Which is good, you know? It's…it's good that you trust us enough to rely on us."

"But I need to grow?" I guessed. It was one of Gia's favorite phrases.

"Yes," Gia replied, reaching up and tugging my hair playfully. "Look, I know you don't like it but…you'll understand. I promise." I shook my head. "If it makes you feel better, I'll miss you." She bent down and kissed my forehead. "But we both know that Erol will miss you more so go say your gushy goodbyes to him as well," she sighed, resuming her folding.

I squinted at her. We always joked about Erol being lost without me but…when she said this there was something strange about it. "Are you okay?"

Gia smiled, although even I could tell that it was a fake smile. "I'm fine. GO! Get out," she shouted, jokingly.

I went to Erol's room and had pretty much the same conversation, except he was the one who needed reassurance. I ended up repeating back a lot of what Gia had told me. Since it was a short conversation and Erol, being a guy, was already packed we just sort of…for lack of a better term, cuddled on his bed. He held me and I pretended not to notice when he childishly copped a feel. It was nice…normal. But too soon the normalcy was disrupted.

We were all shipped back to the mainland in our different groups. The first group to go was led by Daydream and Desmond with two of our battle ready fledglings, Tara and Minerva, as well as a few others. They had a flight to catch since they were going to search the northern half of our country. Much to Desmond's dismay, this meant leaving his beloved car behind. The second group was led by Gia, Erol and Tyler plus the other two fledglings, Lin and Selena. Their group was going to take Desmond's car and search the southern half of the country.

My team was the last to leave. Connor, Mollie, Michael, Daniel and I were taken back to the mainland by David. When we docked Connor, Michael and Daniel put our supplies in Daniel's minivan. David hugged me tightly. "Be careful out there Mari," he whispered. "You may be fairly bad ass but…the world's a seriously dangerous place."

I smiled and nodded. "A fact of which I am completely aware." I'd been away from David for three months not long before this but I was seriously fighting back tears. I was going to miss him. Again. I pulled back to look him in the eyes. "Take care of all of them, David." He nodded. "And yourself too, I guess." David laughed and that was the last of it. Our goodbyes could go on forever otherwise.

We piled into the car. Daniel was driving with Michael riding shotgun, Mollie and I were in the middle two seats and Connor sat in the back amidst some of our supplies. "Sorry," Daniel sighed, starting up the car. "I know a minivan isn't exactly the stealthiest of vehicles but—"

"It's mobile," I replied. "And it's big enough to hold people and supplies. This is just fine."

"So," Michael sighed, turning to face me. "Where shall we go first?'

Everyone looked to me. "Valdosta, Georgia," I said, trying to sound more sure than I was. "There are some folk I'd like to talk to. They might be able to help us figure out where we should start looking."

"Ugh," Connor groaned. "I was cool never going back there again."

I grinned back at him. "Tough cookies."

* * *

><p>David walked into the kitchen, the fact that he'd cried was obvious to anyone who looked at his face. Phelan and Sarvajna sat at the table, eating ice cream. "Everyone get off safely?" Phelan asked, his mouth full.<p>

"Yes," David sighed with a nod. He went to the sink and splashed cool water on his warm face.

"You're worried about them?" Phelan asked, seeming genuinely surprised.

David dried his face with a paper towel then faced the other two. "I am."

Phelan shook his head, bewildered. "Those are some of the most fierce individuals I have ever met. What do you have to worry about?"

David laughed and sat down next to Sarvajna. "Well let's see, I'm worried that Mari will get herself killed trying to save someone. I'm worried that someone will piss Desmond off and he and Daydream will get hurt because of it. Goddess help me, I'm even worried about Erol. I'm worried he'll open his mouth and get killed." Phelan smiled.

"It's your job," Sarvajna stated, eliciting stares from the two men. "You worry. You look out for everyone else."

David smiled at the strange girl. "I thought that was Mari's job."

Sarvajna grinned. "No. Her job is much more complicated and convoluted than that." Again they stared. "Well it is."

"See, I'd be worried about Gia," Phelan sighed, shaking his head. "That girl is so little."

David chuckled. "Naw, Gia is…indestructible. I pity anyone who has to come against her. She's quite a fighter and brilliant to boot."

"You don't have to worry about her," Sarvajna said softly. "She already knows what's coming. She's ready." David and Phelan stared, hoping the girl would clarify. Sarvajna was done talking, however, and simply ate her ice cream quietly.


	12. Control

I met Detective Monica Handler in a quiet diner and came alone so that we didn't draw attention, just as she had requested. I trusted her, because Gia had trusted her, but Michael and Mollie insisted on being within psychic "hearing" distance, just in case. I told the detective pretty much everything. I told her about what was going on with the experiments and my hopes of doing something about it. She kept a stone face the entire time. I had no idea if anything I said had surprised her or elicited any reaction whatsoever. That was probably helpful during interrogations but it just made me nervous.

"So ya'll are looking for ways to help the experiments," Monica mused. "What do you need from me?"

"I need to know if that claim of you having friends in high places was the truth," I sighed, sipping some really bad coffee.

Monica nodded. "You want to find some of the scientists?"

"Yep, and I just need to know where to start looking."

We quieted as our waitress came to refill my coffee and place a piece of pie in front of Monica. We smiled innocently but she seemed less than convinced. She walked away, shaking her head. "I might have a friend or three," Monica whispered, "who were put on security detail."

I raised a brow. "Security detail?"

"Yeah, those scientists are essentially in the witness protection program, though it differs a bit." I nodded. It made sense for these guys to go into hiding. Everyone seemed to hate them, no matter where they stood on the matter of vampyres. If they were anti vamps they often hated the scientists for allowing the vamps to escape or even live, believing that they should have killed them instead of experimenting on them. I have to admit that a tiny part of me felt bad for them. The rest of me hated them like everyone else. What kind of horrible person subjects others to painful experiments like that? "Anyway, I'm sure a few of my friends would be happy to turn over some names. How long ya'll in town?"

"The sooner we leave, the better," I replied pointedly. Not only was I eager to find these guys and help but I was also not too keen on being separated for too long. We were a pack, each of us served a vital role. I just….wanted us all back together.

"Then I'll get on it. Let's meet back here tomorrow night. Either I'll have what you need or at least I'll be able to tell you when I can get you the info."

I thanked Monica and left. Mollie and Michael stood waiting for me. "So? Are you guys satisfied?" I asked, suddenly missing Erol. He'd take that moment to make an inappropriate joke while the rest of us rolled our eyes.

Mollie gave a brilliant smile. "She's definitely intent on helping you," she replied, sighing happily. "She has such pure emotions. I like her!"

Michael uncrossed his arms. "Well, she said pretty much everything she was thinking."

"Pretty much?" Mollie asked, curiously.

"Well, there was a moment where she thought of sleeping with one of her informants." He smiled. "She has quite an imagination that girl."

I gave him a disgusted look. "Eww. Don't do the creepy psychic thing! Stay on task in people's minds."

Mollie bopped Michael on the nose with two fingers. "No! Bad boy! Creeper no creeping!"

* * *

><p>We walked back to the car, Michael trying to justify himself the entire way, and arrived to find that Connor and Daniel had some company. One of them turned around when she heard our foot steps. "Astrid?"<p>

"Oh there you guys are," Connor chuckled. The other two people turned around to reveal themselves to be Tony and Elise. "You guys these are the other two, Mollie and Michael. Mollie and Michael, this is Astrid, Tony and that's Elise. They're some vamps we helped the last time we went through here."

Astrid gave me a friendly smile then noticed Mollie. I swear her eyes popped out of her head her muscles turned to mush. Mollie gave a gracious smile, as if she hadn't noticed, and shook everyone's hands. Michael however simply assessed them (probably sorting through their thoughts). Elise was polite and shook Mollie's hand but ran past her to excitedly hug me.

"Say," Connor chuckled. "Isn't Mollie _your_ birth name Astrid?" Astrid ceased her gawking to glare at Connor.

"Fancy running into you guys," I sighed.

"It seems they came looking for you," Daniel informed me.

I raised a brow. "How'd you know where to find us?"

"We've been spying on you!" Tony said with a grin.

Astrid elbowed him. "She'll think you're serious!" She rolled her eyes and looked at me. "We saw you driving into town and…well…"

"We want to come with you!" Elise sighed, exasperatedly. "We want to help you."

"Help?" Michael asked, suspiciously. "Help with what?"

"With whatever it is Mari here is up to," Tony replied, glaring at the Brit.

"That day," Astrid sighed, suddenly looking kind of vulnerable, "when you guys helped us. Gia and I talked the whole time." I shifted uncomfortably, remembering that way too long hug just before we left. "At one point she…well she accused me of having my head up my own ass."

Connor laughed suddenly. "Sorry I just…Gia would. Sorry, continue."

Astrid rolled her eyes but smiled. "She told me that if we thought we could just hide here until the problem went away we were idiots. She said that if you don't fight for freedom you don't deserve it." She straightened up now. "So I want to deserve it. I want to help…everyone. I don't want to be targeted because of my genetics. You fight for everyone. So I want to help you."

"And we do too," Tony added, standing as tall as his leader.

"Everyone else seems perfectly content to continue hiding," Elise sighed. "So it's just us but it's better than nothing."

I looked at them and smiled. "Well alright then. Thank you."

"So," Tony said tentatively. "What _are_ you guys doing?"

I opened my mouth to reply but Connor began instead. "Brace yourself boys and girls, this one's a doozy." Something in his voice made me stop and look at him. He had that creepy smile on.

"Crap," I sighed.

"What?" Michael asked.

"Ready to see your god's gift to Connor?"

"Run and catch. Run and catch. Always on the move. Poor Alice, trying so hard to get the white rabbit. You'll keep trying, looking, until only one survives. You're following someone but you don't know it. He wants to stop you. In the end…you'll only need the one." He stopped for a moment and looked strangely lucid, though still not like Connor. "She's his, you know."

I furrowed my brow. "Who what now?"

"The girl who has been fiddled with. She belongs to Loki."

I examined Connor. "Odin?"

He smiled and reached out to touch my cheek. "They'll seek to tame you. They have no idea what they're in for. Such wild power cannot be tamed. Oh, little Alice, there's still so much ahead of you." And then his eyes rolled back in his head and Connor passed out. Everyone huddled around him, worrying. They just weren't used to it like I was. I instantly picked up a pen and wrote down what he'd said.

* * *

><p><em>There's a war going on. Daydream knows it. It isn't happening on earth, not yet. Now it is happening in the sky. She sees them on three sides. Among the faces she sees her own Nyx. What the war is about, she isn't certain. This isn't like her other visions. She doesn't think Nyx sent it to her. But she believes it all the same. In the middle of a field, beneath the war, she sees a familiar figure. It is being tugged about. It is struggling to pull away but continues being tugged. It finally loses it and sends out a bright glowing force, releasing it from being tugged. But the force becomes larger and larger, singeing everything in its path, including people. Daydream reaches out only to see her own hand incinerated.<em>

Daydream's eyes fluttered open calmly. Desmond stared down at her. "Hey sleepy," he chuckled. "Feel like joining us in the waking world?" He helped her stand up and walk back to her seat. He smiled at everyone else on the plane, reassuring them that she simply had low blood pressure. "So what was it?" he whispered.

Daydream shook her head. "Poor Mari, they all want to control her. They have no idea what they're getting into."

Desmond furrowed his brow. "Who?"

She looked out her window and stared out into the clouds. "The gods."


	13. Riddles

_***Kind of short, I know. I was oddly motivated by my favorite story ending. I promise the next one will be longer, more will happen and it will be very soon. Today (Friday) hopefully!***_

"I've got the list!" I said proudly, in a singsong voice. My companions didn't look quite as pleased. Well, Connor did but he often looked excited when someone else seemed excited. "C'mon guys. Look happy. We're another step closer to helping the Coders. Do we not want to track down scientists anymore?"

Michael furrowed his brow. "Don't you want to figure out what Connor's trance speech meant?"

I stared at Michael, Mollie, Daniel, Astrid, Tony and Elise. They all looked so serious. I looked to Connor who simply shrugged. "No," I scoffed. "If I've learned anything from all of the psychics I've known it's that the truth will come out. It always does. We'll figure it out eventually."

Michael shook his head. "That is a HORRIBLE way to go about it."

"And yet," Connor chuckled, "look how far she's come. It seems to work out for her. So…deal!" Connor gave me a grin.

The others looked a little nervous. "Look," I sighed, smiling so they knew I wasn't mad or anything. "You don't have to come. If you don't feel safe with me or you're worried I'm being foolhardy or…you've just changed your mind, then don't come. No shame. I just…I need to fix this."

"Oh, we're sticking with you!" Astrid said, very enthusiastically. I smiled as Tony and Elise nodded vigorously in agreement.

Mollie shook her head. "No, I'm definitely going to be at your side. We're sisters after all, daughters of Aphrodite." I faked a smile for Mollie. I knew she was just trying to illustrate her loyalty but she'd been on about being daughters of Aphrodite since the night before last. I just didn't feel much like a daughter of Aphrodite. I figured they would all just be undeniably beautiful. Like Mollie.

Despite the others' confidence, Michael continued to look concerned. "But, Odin came down personally to warn you—"

"And I've been warned," I practically growled. Michael opened his mouth to retort. "Look, I don't just jump when the gods say jump, alright? I'm not going to take time away from SAVING PEOPLE to solve a puzzle. Do you know how many people could be dead by then? If Odin wants to tell me something he could always stop speaking in riddles."

Michael rolled his eyes. "Oh but when Loki said to do something you did it."

Connor looked like he was going to be offended for me but I jumped in before he could. "Two things wrong with that. One being that Trickster didn't speak in riddles." Michael sighed and looked away. "Second being that I was already going after these guys _long_ before any god said anything to me."

"But the gods—"

"Ugh," I groaned. "Don't you ever think for yourself? Question orders before following them?" Michael gave me a tight lipped stare which said he didn't. "Look, I'm going. Feel free to stay behind." Without another word I turned and left, hoping that those who wanted to come with me knew to follow.

Erol and Gia watched Sonja train. She had a powerful affinity for fire so her training consisted of slow Tai Chi moves while keeping a ball of fire under control. "Wow, she's good," Gia sighed.

"That doesn't answer my question," Erol growled. The girl could talk in circles.

Gia rolled her eyes. Erol had the longest attention span when it came to Mari. He would get completely distracted when talking about anything else. It seemed the woman completely consumed his every thought. Well…okay, almost. "She has a lot of things to do, Erol," Gia replied. She could have sworn she'd already said this.

"No, I get that. Miles to go before she sleeps, all that jazz. Why without us?"

"What?" Gia scoffed, watching the elegance of Sonja's movements. It was like a silent dance. "You worried she won't fair well without her vampyre lovers protecting her?"

Erol laughed. "Oh hell no! Anyone who thinks Mari needs to be taken care of either doesn't know her or is smoking something rank." Gia grinned. "Even if she wasn't blessed by every god in the sky I wouldn't be worried about her safety. I just…"he paused. "I don't _want_ to be without her. She can do without us, for sure, and I can technically live without her. But I never want to." Erol smiled dreamily into space. Gia disliked the competition but she did love the way Erol loved Mari. She knew that he was as devoted as she was, if not even more so. "Now tell me," Erol sighed, pulling Gia from her inner monologue. "Why should we be without her? What makes now so special?" The girl opened her mouth to argue. "No, right now is special, I can see it in your eyes. You can't take being away from her anymore than me. I can also tell that you're keeping something from me."

Gia shook her head, thoroughly exhausted. "So what if I am?"

Erol's eyes bore into the younger vampyre. "You told me you wouldn't keep anything from me," he whispered. Gia looked over to see if the hurt she heard in his voice was actually there, and it was. "You promised that, when it came to Mari, you would never leave me in the dark."

"Because she has some decisions to make, Erol," Gia finally sighed, unable to hide the sadness in her voice. "She's beyond us. She…she needs to make some choices and if we're around we'll affect her decisions."

Erol glared at Gia. "So she has decisions. That doesn't—"

"There's a war coming, Erol," Gia interrupted. Erol stopped to stare. He could hear fear in her voice. Gia was never afraid, as far as Erol knew. "And I don't just mean a war between nations or vampyres and humans. It's not nearly so superficial." Gia turned to face Erol, her big brown eyes teary. "A war between the gods. There is so much about Mari we don't know and so much more she doesn't even know about herself. Things she may never know."

"Gia," Erol said softly, trailing off.

"If we're there, Mari won't choose the things beneficial to her, her mission or her own mortality. She'll choose what she thinks is best for us and I couldn't live with that."Gia returned to watching the powerful fire wielder in front of her. "How do you suppose Sonja does that? She contains such a raw and powerful force. What will happen when she can't control it anymore?"


	14. Fear Itself

_***Sorry it's been a LOT longer than I meant. I got...busy. I'll tell ya'll more later.***_

There were fifty names and addresses (or just general cities) on the list. This was much more than I could have ever hoped for. Apparently Monica hadn't been kidding about her friends not liking what was going on. Things were looking up for us. Then we got to the first location to find the door blocked off with police tap. The man had been murdered the day before we got there. We accepted this as a coincidence and headed for the next location. There were no police there. No, no. _We_ found the body there.

The story was the same for the next twenty-three houses. This was no coincidence. Someone was murdering the scientists on our lists before we could get to them. I might have thought that people were just getting word of the scientists being in their town and they decided to go after them. These weren't disconnected killings. These were the work of the same person or people every time. The front door was always kicked down, they were always killed execution style (gunshot to the back of the head) and left lying face down in a puddle of their own blood. The person who did it wanted nothing more from the body after killing it. The strangest thing was that each of these places was looted but not in the way you'd expect. Every file and book shelf was torn apart and papers were strewn about the houses. Whoever this was they were looking for information, not money or possessions.

Michael tried desperately to read the residual thoughts of the dead men and women but failed miserably. I watched him become more and more frustrated as time went on. The one thing he could contribute was turning out to be a dud and not because of anything he did wrong. If he hadn't been such an arrogant jerk about everything I may have felt sorry for him.

Tony paced the twenty-fifth house like a caged in tiger (which, considering his name, funny). He growled and looked at me as I hovered over the body. "Can I break something?"

"What?" Mollie and Astrid asked in unison.

"If I break something I might feel better for a moment," Tony explained then looked to me again.

I scratched my head. "Do you have a criminal record?"

"Huh?" Not the response he was expecting.

"Do you have a criminal record? If you leave a fingerprint will they trace it back to you?"

Tony looked down at his sneakers. "Maybe…"

"Then no." I sighed. I understood his frustration. I kind of felt like doing something to make me feel powerful. Even for a moment. "This is getting ridiculous. We just keep coming across a trail of dead bodies."

" _'You'll keep trying, looking, until only one survives. You're following someone but you don't know it_.' It's just like Connor said," Elise said sadly. "We're following someone. Someone who wants to kill all of the same people we need to find."

Astrid crossed her arms, every muscle tense. "Great so someone is finally extracting vengeance and its just when we need these idiots alive."

I shook my head and looked around the room. "It's more than that. This person isn't too far ahead of us. I mean…this woman is freshly dead." My eyes paused on a picture of the woman with her husband and three kids. Those poor things. Motherless.

"She's right," Michael sighed. "The residual energy fully dissipates six hours after death. The energy is just barely gone. They are maybe five hours ahead of us."

"So someone is following the same list as us," Connor growled. "The exact same list."

"But Monica didn't give it to whoever it is," Mollie said, trying not to be sick. She really couldn't stand death. Not that the rest of us liked it any. We were just more used to it. "Michael and I made sure she wasn't double crossing us."

I shook my head. "How they got it is not my concern. How to get around them is."

Tony furrowed his brow. "Around them?"

"Skip to the end!" Elise said, excitedly.

I nodded. "That's my way of thinking. Cut them off. Stopping them would be great but I'm most concerned with keeping one alive so that we can fix the damage they've done." I turned to Mollie. "Do you have all of the things you might need for a locator spell?"

"Everything but something of the person I'm locating."

I pulled a pen out of my bag and used it to lift the woman's hand up by the sleeve. Thankfully I had watched all of those ridiculous crime shows back when I had time to watch tv. I took a nail file and ran it underneath her fingernail. Just as I thought, skin from her attacker was under her nail. When most woman are attacked they use their nails to defend themselves. Thank the gods for chick fighting. "Will skin do?"

Mollie looked grossed out but impressed. "Mhm," she replied, in a really high pitch. She took the nail file and began pulling things out of her bag.

"Why do you need to know where they are?" Michael sighed. He seemed to think every decision I ever made was frivolous. It was beginning to get on my nerves.

"Because you should always keep an eye on your enemies."

"Who says they're our enemies?"

I glared at Michael, trying desperately to stop myself from strangling him. "They are killing the very people I need in order to help those in trouble. I need to know where they are. If they're actually—"

"Got 'em!" Mollie said excitedly. "You were right, they're heading for the very next place on our list."

I nodded then turned to Daniel. "Can you teleport other people?"

Daniel grinned. "What were you thinking? All of us go after him or I go get him for you?"

"You can't go in alone. No one should do anything alone right now. Not even going to the bathroom, I'm so serious right now." I turned to everyone else. "You guys go, don't wait here. Who knows when someone will finally call the police? Take the car to that field we passed on the way. Daniel and I will meet you there." I paused. "Where are we going?"

Elise looked at the list. "This guy, Edward Paine, was stationed in the outskirts of this place in California. Idyllwild."

* * *

><p>"Gia, you're making everyone nervous," Erol chuckled. The younger vampyre kept looking out the window.<p>

"Sorry," Gia sighed.

Erol shook his head. "We're heading back to home base. You don't have to be nervous. Okay? We've got them." In the last couple of weeks Erol and Gia's team had managed to find every vampyre and human living in their designated area that had been messed with. Now, all they had to do was take them back and pray that Mari held up her end of the deal. "This is a sad time," Erol commented, staring at all of the experiments around them. "When the thing we're fighting is the government. It really makes you lose faith, you know?"

Gia made a face. "This isn't about the government."

One of Erol's brows popped up. "Oh no? Who do you suppose is to blame for all of this then?"

"Fear," Gia replied, without skipping a beat. "This is the result of people being afraid of what they don't understand. Fear is always the big bad. It causes wars and violence and needless pointless death." Gia looked into Erol's eyes. "This was never about the government. It isn't an entity unto itself like we like to think. It's made up of people who have to do what they think is best for other people. And many people feared us so other people experimented on us in an attempt to understand and make us less scary."

She was silent for a moment. "Wow, way to get all serious on me." Gia smiled weakly. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Mhm. I'm fine." Erol gave a less than convinced look. "Seriously. Oh hey," she pulled a folded up envelope from her pocket. "Could you hang onto this for me?"

Erol took the envelope. "Sure what is—"

"Go check on Lin for me," Gia interrupted. "I think I heard something and…I'm worried."

Erol nodded. He was barely seven feet away from Gia when he heard the glass break. By the time he turned around Gia was on the ground and everyone was already fighting back. Erol ran to the small figure who was already drenched in blood. "Gia? Gia c'mon. Gia look at me. Please. Please. LOOK AT ME!"


	15. To The Paine

_***Hey to those of you who actually still read this. You people are awesome. Just felt the need to appreciate you since I'm feeling a little like a failure right now. Okay, enjoy.***_

Daniel dragged me through space and time (a pretty trippy experience might I say) and we poofed into the guy's front yard. I had to stand there for a moment, leaning on the mailbox. I had to wait for the world to come back to me. "You alright?" Daniel asked, looking pretty concerned. "I know I haven't known you long but I….I've never seen you look all weak like that before."

I chuckled, trying to ignore the spinning world. "I'm fine. No worries. Let's get this guy." I stumbled toward the guy's front door and nearly fell on my face. Luckily Daniel caught me. "Why does this feel familiar?" I asked, feeling kind of woozy.

Daniel grinned, a little too amused. "It uh…kind of has the effect of a few shots of tequila." I groaned. Tequila was the one liquor I could not handle. Of course it had to be tequila. "Will you be okay? It should go away in a few minutes. We can wait."

"No," I pushed him away. "Let's get this over with. Luckily tequila acts like liquid courage for me."

"Okay but say he's a good fighter," Daniel reasoned, trying to keep up with me as I walked up to the door. "You won't stand a chance, Mari."

I rolled my eyes and banged on the door. A man, who couldn't have been older than his early 40s, (maybe) answered the door. He was fairly tall with grey green eyes and unkempt salt and pepper hair, though more pepper than salt. He squinted at me, seeming a little intoxicated himself. "What's this?" he asked.

"Edward Paine?" I asked, trying to hide my disgust. He nodded. This was one of them. This was one of the monsters who experimented on hundreds upon thousands of people. I pushed my way into his house and Daniel came in behind me, shutting the door.

Now Mr. Paine looked a little nervous. "What _is_ this?" he repeated, though this time it was a little more demanding.

"This is…umm…." Daniel thought for a moment. "Well it's like half a kidnapping and half a rescue mission." The guy raised a brow as if he thought this might be a joke.

"Here's the deal, Eddy," I sighed, feeling myself sober up. "We know you're one of the scientists. We need your help fixing some of the people you screwed up." The man opened his mouth to reply but I cut him off. "Also, there is someone going through and killing all of the scientists. You're the first one we've found alive. You need us as much as we need you."

Paine sat down, seeming floored by this information. "Look, we don't have much time. Where are any and all files you might need on subject of vampyres and the other experiments? Whoever is killing you people keeps taking those sorts of things so we'd like it if we could leave them with nothing."

"Right," Paine sighed, nodding and standing up slowly. He was being awfully calm about this. "Son, could you got get the files and notebooks from that filing cabinet? All of them please. I have a few things I need to grab if I'm going to be of any use to you people. Plus a few personal items."

I shook my head. "No personal items. We travel light."

Paine glared down at me. "It's not much. Just a few keepsakes."

"Doesn't matter. Leave anything extra."

Daniel furrowed his brow. "Mari, just let him bring a couple of trinkets." I glared at my supposed partner. "If nothing else, arguing just takes up time."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Get the paper work. I'm gonna keep an eye on Mr. Paine over here."

The man walked into the only other room in the little house and began calmly grabbing things. "Here," he sighed, "could you carry these little bags? I only have so many hands and I'm going to need a few more things." I scoffed and took the bags. Paine, not exactly oblivious to my disdain, rolled his eyes and continued going through his things. "So, let me guess. People are freaking out, suffering from withdrawal and just generally having bad reactions to life outside of the facility. Am I right? Hot, cold? In the ballpark?"

I just continued to glare. "How do you live with yourself?" Paine turned around to give me a curious look. "These were people and you treated them like science projects. I saw a woman driven to catatonia because of all the computer parts shoved into her brain. This one vamp chick I know completely overloads and freaks out because of the experiments done on her. How do you not take a razor blade to your frigging throat?"

Paine stared at me for a moment, sniffed, then returned to his things. "You have no idea who I am little girl. You have no idea what I have and haven't done. And you certainly have no idea what kind of guilt I may or may not suffer." He grabbed a small box from beside his bed then turned to me. "I'm helping your friends now. And, for future reference, don't try to goad a hostage you will desperately need into committing suicide. It renders them useless and is, quite frankly, in bad taste." I stared at the man, open mouthed. What did he just say? "I have everything. Sorry if it's not light enough for you but it's everything I need." With that he pushed past me. I took a deep breath, trying to contain my shock and anger, then followed.

Daniel stood with his arms full of notebooks and files, a pile which reached from his belly button to his chin. "Is this all of it?" he asked, hopefully. Paine nodded then headed for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" I growled.

Paine squinted. "Your uh…vehicle?"

"We poofed here," I sighed.

"Teleported," Daniel explained when the man look perplexed. "Just hold onto me, I'll get us through." Paine held onto Daniel's shoulder and held a hand out for me. I glared and grabbed his arm.

Daniel pulled us through the paper thin walls of reality and we reappeared in a field with the rest of our company staring expectantly. "About time," Tony sighed. He was getting twitchy like he always did when he was worried about getting caught. "Someone came over to check on that last chick and…man could she scream."

Astrid grimaced. "Police should be tearing through here pretty soon."

I nodded. "Yeah, we should get a move on. If we drive through the next few nights we should…" Everyone shared a glance. "What?"

"Mari," Mollie sighed. "We could all use a good night's sleep and a real meal. You haven't eaten much more than Twinkies in days." I stared.

Connor stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder. "There is a cheap hotel not too far off. We're stopping there for a quick rest."

I shook my head. "We have to get back as soon as possible. Everyone needs our help. The faster we get this figured out—"

"We're talking less than a day, Mari," Connor sighed. "I know you feel responsible and you want to right this wrong but…you can't do that if you work yourself to death." I opened my mouth to argue. "Mari, as your second in command I'm going to have to relieve you of your duty if you don't agree to rest up. Pretend I'm Gia or Erol and have any authority over you whatsoever."

I chuckled. "Fine."

* * *

><p>We checked into the hotel and Mollie force fed me some room service then everyone promptly passed out. I sat out on the balcony which looked out onto the freeway. It was a crappy view but something about watching the cars was almost meditative. I heard a squeak behind me and looked to see Paine creeping out onto the balcony. He tried to smile but I turned away. He just sighed and lit up a cigarette.<p>

"Ew," I scoffed, glaring at him.

Paine smiled. "Yeah, I know. God, I've been smoking since I was…twelve. I wanted to look cool and now…" he drifted off. Suited me just fine. I really didn't care about his nasty habit and its origins. "So, why do you feel responsible for the people who've been messed up?"

"Why don't we have you bound and gagged?" I replied, hoping this would force him to give up. Instead he stared at me, expectantly.

"Look, kid, I just want to understand your role. You're no vampyre. You're not avenging someone because that wouldn't cause you to feel responsible."

I rolled my eyes. This guy wasn't going to give up. "I freed them," I sighed.

"Oh!" Paine said. He took a deep inhale from his cigarette then looked back at me. "So you didn't even consider the possibility that they might need some taking care of?"

I stared at him. "No…"

"Why didn't you get a man on the inside? Figure out a way to help those who might need it afterward. I mean, you knew what they were going through in there. You should have known there would be side effects."

"How could I have known?" I growled. "All that I knew was that I needed to get them out of there. I needed to free them from that inhumane prison. I couldn't have known exactly what they were being treated with. I couldn't have known what drugs they might depend on or what might have gone wrong in the programming. How could I?"

Paine smiled. "Then you have no reason to feel guilty, do you?" I paused and stared at the man in silence as he finished his cigarette and put it out on the railing. "Well, g'night. You should get some rest too."


	16. Other's Pain

_***Sorry, been busy. Meant to post this a couple days ago.***_

When Desmond walked into the small room where his mate had been sleeping he was surprised to find her up. She sat in front of the barred up window, just staring at the rain streaked glass. "Hey love, what are you doing up?"

"We should go back," Daydream replied. She sounded stuffy, like she'd been crying, and completely detached from the rest of the world. But the horrible thing, to her at least, was that she wasn't detached. She could feel it. All of it. Yes, some of it was the good and the happy but most of it was the pain and the sad. She could feel all of it. All of them. So many with so much sadness. And the one…with so much anger. Anger which he expressed through force. Anger which he instilled in those willing to listen to him. So much emotion for one little person. She wasn't sure if she was strong enough to handle it.

Desmond came up behind her and softly ran his fingers through her hair. "Daydream, sweety, we can't just leave every—"

"There's no one else," the prophetess sighed, turning her reddened eyes to her mate. "He's killing them all. The other group and us…we've gathered everyone we can."

The Son of Erebus furrowed his brow and sat across from her. "A vision?"

Daydream nodded, solemnly. "A message from Nyx…and a couple of others. I don't like their visions. They feel like they don't fit in my head like Nyx's do."

"The vision, love," Desmond reminded her gently, trying to keep the distracted girl on track.

"Right…not a nice one. Long to short," she sighed, "we need to go back to the others. If nothing else…Mari is going to need us. Goddess, is she going to need us…"

When everyone woke up our hostage was still asleep. So we took this opportunity to look through his files. We'd rented a room with a bedroom and a living area so we left Paine to sleep in the bedroom, a room with no way out, and we huddled up in the living area. Most of his notes made little sense to me since I wasn't even remotely science inclined. Michael and Elise however poured over his notes.

"Goddess," Elise sighed, after a while of muttering to herself. "His research dates back some twenty plus years."

I shook my head. "What?"

"Seems he already knew of our existence and wanted to learn more. He was on the right track early on about it being a gene which was triggered by puberty…"

"He seems to have been their brightest mind," Michael added when Elise trailed off. "He was essentially their jumping off point. All of their experiments on the vampyres were based off of his hunches." I made a face, disgusted. "Mari…how could he have known so much? What is it about this man?"

I thought back to the box he'd kept by his bed. He treated it like he couldn't live without it. Could that hold the key? I excused myself to get something from the bedroom. I didn't want to let them in on my hunch should it prove…well, idiotic. I snuck in and quietly shut the door. Paine was still sleeping like a baby.

I tiptoed over to Paine's things which we'd left. Mostly his few clothes, a couple of encoded journals (which I had decided to decode later) and the box. There was nothing extraordinary about the box. Nothing was carved into it, it wasn't painted or varnished in any way and it was made out of crappy wood. I could have broken it by holding it too roughly. But something made it seem important. Something made it seem special. I slowly opened the lid.

Much to my chagrin it was purely sentimental. There were some letters neatly written in cursive and on lavender paper so I knew it had to be from a girl. There was a pretty locket which was a circle with a crescent moon carved into it. There was also a coin on a string. It was the same coin I wore around my neck. I shook my head, both confused that it was the same coin and also disheartened by my lack of discovery. Then something caught my eye.

There was a Polaroid picture in the bottom of the box. I picked it up, though I wasn't sure why since there was nothing a picture could tell me about his research, and then I saw her. A girl in her mid teens. Her lips were curled into a laughing smile and her bright green eyes had turned into little crescents from smiling. Her long, wavy brown hair was billowing into her face and one hand pushed it back. It would have been a lovely photo if the girl hadn't looked just like me. The smile, the eyes, the hair and the shape of the face. It was all practically identical. All of it but the nose. Her nose was a pretty little triangle that made me think she was part native American while my nose was piggish and distinctly Irish.

"Her name was Cara," a voice whispered behind me. I spun around, like a child caught with my hand in the cookie jar, and saw Paine looking at me from the bed. He sat up with his feet on the ground. "We'd known each other since the fourth grade. I think I loved her even then." He chuckled. "She uh…she hated my smoking. She said 'Eww' every time she saw me do it or smelled it on me."

I furrowed my brow. "What happened?"

Paine faced the wall. "We were fifteen. We thought we were so grown up. We were too young to have sex, I know that now. Hell, I think I knew it then. But I loved her so nothing, not even rational thought, could stop me from being with her." He cleared his throat and looked down at his feet. "Her parents were so mad when they found out she was pregnant. I mean, my parents weren't exactly pleased but at least they didn't smack me around and throw me out. They even took her in when she came to us covered in bruises. Cara didn't believe in abortion, frankly I didn't either. So my parents offered to help us raise it. I was willing but Cara…she said it wouldn't be fair. She said that no child should be raised by children. She wanted…she wanted so many things for the baby." I heard him sniff like he was just clearing his nose but I could tell he was tearing up. I don't like when men cry, regardless of whether or not they were responsible for the torture of a whole group of peoples. "So we gave her up. Cara set it up with a lovely couple who were in their thirties and couldn't get pregnant. They were great. Cara gave birth to a healthy little girl and, just as they took the baby away to clean her up a man came bursting through the door. He began ranting about darkness and whatnot…" Paine sighed. "Next thing you know she has a blue crescent moon on her head."

My eyes widened. "She was Marked? But…I mean, I've never heard of a vampyre having a child."

"As far as I know, they can't," Paine replied. "But, she wasn't technically a vampyre when she had the child." He took a deep breath. "Or ever…she never made the change." I found myself feeling bad for this man. It was hard not to. His emotions were genuine and, frankly, heartbreaking. "The people at her House of Night were wonderful. They invited me to come and visit her often and loved teaching me about vampyres and the science as they knew it. I just wanted to learn about them. How they were chosen, that sort of stuff. After Cara passed…I wanted to know what made the body reject the change. I never wanted…" he stopped himself.

"So that's why," I sighed. "That's why your research goes back so far. You knew about vamps before they were outed. You…" I shook my head. This was a lot.

Paine turned to me and smiled. "Amazing, that's all you get from that story, huh?" I stared at him. "It was quite a night for me. The same night my only child was born was the same night the love of my life was condemned to death. Not that I blamed vampyres for her death, don't get me wrong. Nothing against Nyx either. But still, October 11 is both a happy and sad day for me." I froze and Paine smiled. "That's what I thought. From the moment I opened my door and saw your face that was all I could think of. You're adopted aren't you Mari?"

I stood up. "What…what are you talking about?" I stuttered. Part of me was rationally trying to grasp at what he was saying but the other part was in denial.

"Your parents are Derrick and Deidre Diana, aren't they?"

I furrowed my brow and shook my head. "How could you know that?"

Paine stood and reached out to me but I shied away. "Mari, I think you know what I'm getting at." I looked at his nose which was piggish and distinctly Irish. The missing link between the girl in this picture and me. "I believe I'm your father."

_***GASP! Soap opera ending much? By the way, it is ridiculous how far ahead I planned this whole thing! LOL Hope you liked it. :D )**_


	17. Monster

_***First off I know that this is really short after a long wait but I've been super busy. I'll update more often, hopefully. Second off, just a warning I may drop the f-bomb at one point. It's just that I know this is rated Teen so I thought I'd warn ya'll. Just once. Okay. Here you go, no more babbling.***_

I flew at Paine, pushing him down on the bed. I unleashed. I hardly remember any of my thoughts. All I know is I found myself screaming that he was a monster and a liar as my fists were flying. I came out of it when Connor pulled me off of him. My face was hot, and undoubtedly red, and tears were streaming down my face. Paine's face was bruising and bloodied. "I didn't mean to upset you," he sighed. "I was just being honest."

Tony pinned Paine down and growled at him, "What did you do?"

"You're a monster," I repeated, sobbing. "You loved her and…and those vampyres took you in and taught you everything and then you go and turn it against them? I could never come from such disgusting roots."

"Yeah, because I had so much choice in the matter!" Paine shouted, coughing after. I may have injured his ribs but I honestly didn't care. "You think I enjoyed helping destroy people I cared about? See, I was black listed any way for protecting several Houses of Night worth of vampyres and fledglings. I was condemned to death. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted with me. Which meant they could use the illegal things on me. Like their own little truth serum. They had me doped up on the stuff all of the time. I was strapped to the wall and forced to observe their experiments and, thanks to the fucking truth serum I was incapable of keeping my thoughts to myself. So they acted on them."

Everyone stared wide eyed at the man. They seemed to feel sympathetic. But I was beyond sympathy. "And then they just let you go? They put you in a nice safe house in California? Gee, what torture."

Mollie put a hand on my shoulder. "Mari, honey—"

"Because they knew I would die!" Paine shouted. "They knew that either people would find out who I was and kill me or the guilt would be too much and I would kill myself."

There was a moment of silence, aside from my panting. Michael stepped up to Paine and met his eyes. "You were going to kill yourself, were you not?"

Paine looked over at me then back at Michael and nodded. "I was ready. I was going to bleed myself. A slow and painful death, perfect for a cowardly traitor. Then there was a knock at my door." He looked at me again. "I thought you were Cara's angel, sent by Nyx to either stop me or usher me into death. Then you started talking and I saw my own pig headedness."

"I am _nothing_ like you," I scoffed and, breaking out of Connor's hold on me, stormed into the living area. Everyone but Elise and Daniel followed me, those two stayed behind to make sure I hadn't killed our prisoner.

"Mari," Connor said carefully, "What the hell just happened in there?"

I grabbed Tony's wrist and looked at his watch. "I'll tell you as we pack. We need to get going. I can't be around this guy much longer."

_***Oh, and in the next few weeks I'll give ya'll the ISBN and maybe a link to my book. Yeah, a real life published book. That's what I've been so busy with. Okay. Well, until next time. See ya!***_


	18. Change The Rules

_***GAH! It's been forever again. Sorry, I've been really busy with my book and writing its sequel. But my first book is officially out and the only thing I can do is promote it. So here it goes….my book, entitled **_**Unexpected Destiny**_**, is currently available on Lulu. It will be available on Amazon and Barnes & Nobel soon but, why wait? People actually seem to like it so I'd love it if people on fanfiction told me what they thought of it. Alright! Enough about me. On with the show.***_

"You're really not going to talk to him for the rest of the journey?" Elise asked, amazed. We girls were getting a table at a truck stop just outside of the Florida border while the guys pretended to have any idea what was wrong with our car. "I mean…he's your father."

I shook my head. "My father's name was Derrick Diana and he died a few years ago. He taught me to roller blade, he helped me with my homework, he cursed his effeminate last name and he threatened my dates when I was a teenager. This guy is just my sperm donor."

"Besides," Astrid growled, "he's the reason so many of our kind and others were tortured."

"That's like saying Bartolome de las Casas is the reason so many Africans were enslaved," Mollie scoffed. The rest of us stared. "He was a…ugh, never mind. Look, it wasn't exactly his fault. Even Michael has said—"

I sighed. "I just…I want to get the information from him and then never see him again. Okay? I had parents. I don't want to deal with this. Just let it go."

Mollie furrowed her brow. "Maybe it's not about what _you_ need."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." I looked at the table across the way from us to find a couple giving us funny looks. Then I realized what they were looking at. Elise and Astrid's marks. "Can we help you?" I growled, causing them to look down at their menus.

Elise shrank back a little, she hated being stared at, and Astrid gave me an approving nod. Astrid and I didn't always agree but our stance on dealing with bigots and looky-loos was the same. Our waitress approached the table and stiffly asked what we wanted to drink. We ordered for ourselves and the guys. The waitress couldn't help but gasp "There's more of ya'll comin'?" Elise looked like she was going to cry but the waitress tried to pass it off as a joke.

"Maybe we should go," Elise sighed.

"Or maybe they should get over it," Astrid growled, glaring at a group of teenagers who'd also begun staring.

Mollie put her hand on Elise's. "Besides, we're stuck here with the car in the condition it's in. Just ignore them, 'kay honey?" Elise nodded sadly. I sighed and pulled my shirt down as much as decently possible. People suddenly quit staring at Elise and began staring at the strange mark on my chest instead. They didn't stop staring at Astrid mind you but Astrid's style alone screamed _STARE AT ME!_ Elise gave me an appreciative smile. I didn't exactly like the attention but I was glad to relieve the poor little girl. She may have been a couple years older than me but all I saw was a little girl when I looked at her.

Suddenly there was a struggle outside which took the entire restaurant's attention off of us. We all ran out to see Paine holding a bleeding girl while the other guys chased men in white sheets away. Tony turned back to us. "Klan members are joining in? VHB aren't bad enough we've gotta deal with the KKK?"

We all rushed to the girl Paine was holding. She was a fledgling who was nowhere near the change, though it was hard to see her Mark on her beautiful dark skin, and there were large holes going through her hands. "What the hell?" Astrid growled, incensed.

"They were crucifying her," Paine sighed sadly, nodding at a large cross which was now lying in the middle of the road.

Mollie spun around and shouted to the restaurant goers, "Get help!" Much to no one's surprise, Mollie aside, the people didn't move. They all just stared like it was a show. "Now! This girl is going to lose too much blood! Please." Everyone looked to one another then started slowly heading back inside.

I rolled my eyes. "Frigging humans! Connor!" Sensing what I was going to do, Connor grabbed my switchblade from my backpack which was by our broken down car. He tossed it to me and I quickly dragged the blade across my wrist. It had been a while since I'd had to do that. It hurt a little more than I remembered. I winced and brought my wrist to the fledgling's mouth. "This will probably not taste great since you aren't used to blood yet but—" The girl immediately latched onto my wrist.

"Or it could come naturally," Daniel chuckled.

Mollie and Michael watched me closely as I fed the girl my blood. I began meditative breathing, trying to ignore the natural pleasure which came from feeding a vampyre. With fledglings it was usually easier to breathe through, it wasn't so pleasurable, but the way this girl drank was like an adult vamp. She was close to dying. I shook my head sadly and caught sight of Elise, Astrid and Tony whose eyes were all on my wrist. I pretended not to noticed and looked at the restaurant door where the customers had gathered again.

The people stared, looking horrified. Their horror only increased when they noticed that the girl was almost completely healed. I gently pulled my wrist from the girl's mouth and she released, breathing heavily. "I think you may need to get to your feet kid," I whispered to the girl. She gave me a confused stare. "They look like they're moments away from—"

"What are you?" our waitress screamed at me.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Perhaps moments was an overstatement. Milliseconds away from forming an angry mob would be more accurate."

"A decent human being is what she is!" Elise shouted at the crowd. "Which is more than I can say for you people!"

A fat man in a baseball cap spit toward us. It landed on the ground not far from where Elise stood. "She ain't human. We seen how fast that demon healed. She's one of you creatures."

"Elise darling," Michael sighed, in his annoyingly British way. You know the way. "I don't think you're going to reason with them."

The crowd began moving toward us and I helped the fledgling off the pavement. "You have to understand," said the female of the couple who'd been staring at us inside. "We need to protect ourselves. We have no idea what your kind may or may not do."

As they got even closer to us, we began to run. Daniel picked up the fledgling so she wouldn't faint or anything and Tony wrapped an arm around my waist and helped me along, for the same reason. We were able to grab the bag with Paine's research in it but we had to leave everything else. We didn't know how fast or far we could run. We were a tired little group of people.

Suddenly a truck pulled up beside us. I couldn't see the driver but I heard a voice shout "Get in!" and then honk the horn. I turned back to see how close the crowd was then looked back at the truck.

"You can't seriously be thinking about jumping in a strange truck," Paine scoffed, as he struggled to breathe.

"Certain death or possible death?" I sighed. "I choose possible death. Let's go!" I jumped in the bed of the truck and helped everyone but Daniel and the fledgling in. Those two, thanks to Daniel's abilities, were able to simply appear in the truck bed.

The angry mob tried to keep up but really didn't stand a chance when the truck started going about 70mph. We sat quietly in the back, wondering what fate awaited us. After about fifteen minutes of driving, the truck pulled off into a dark parking lot. Everyone prepared for the worst but something told me this was a good thing. My instincts were rewarded when a short and slightly chubby young woman exited the truck and came around to the side.

"You are always in trouble, aren't you Mari?" Jenn chuckled. She looked a little more tired and ragged since the last time I'd seen her but I would recognize the girl anywhere. She fiddled with the sweatband she used to cover her barcode and smiled at me. "I hear you've been trying to find me."

* * *

><p>A man and his crew approached a little house on the outskirts of Idyllwild. "This is the address boss," a lackey said, his voice full of fear and respect. Who could blame him? He'd seen his leader murder many men and women in the last couple of weeks.<p>

The man walked up to the door and carefully, and with great skill, picked the lock. When the door swung open and he got his first good look inside the house the feeling hit him immediately. "Paine isn't here," he growled.

The crew rushed inside and began searching the house for its supposed occupant. "Are you sure, sir?" one of his lackeys asked, trying not to sound panic stricken.

"She's been here," the man growled. "I can almost smell her. She's ahead of the game." He shouted a string of swear words and threw a vase full of flowers against the wall. His crew froze, wondering if they would be the next to suffer their leader's wrath. Instead, the man took a deep breath. "It's fine. If she wants to skip ahead, we'll just change the rules."

The man began to laugh as his followers exchanged concerned glances.

_***By the way, Bartolome de las Casas was an advocate for the rights of North and South American natives. He thought that the church was using them unlawfully as slaves so he flippantly remarked that he'd rather they enslaved Africans. He later COMPLETELY retracted that statement but it gave him a pretty bad rap for a while. Ooh! Fanfiction with historical goodies. Can't handle it! LOL***_


	19. A Moment of Impact

**_*Been a while. Sorry. I actually forgot this existed for a bit. Short update but I plan on getting back to this.*_**

The drive through Florida was spent with me telling Jenn about what had happened while she'd been gone. I told her about every little incident leading to the big problem on the little island. She didn't really say anything or react. I knew she was taking in all I had to say and trying to figure out how to help. She'd been such an important player when we infiltrated the testing facility. I valued her opinion. No, I _needed_ her opinion.

Then I asked the question I had been avoiding; what had happened to her since she'd left? She seemed hesitant but told me anyway. She told me, in many words, that she'd gone into reclusion. She began camping out in the mountains, though she refused to say where, just trying to deal with Rosto's death. It had broken her will. "Then, one day, I saw this small group of guys skulking around talking about some provamp bitch they were following." She gave me a pointed stare. "I knocked all but one unconscious then beat that one til he gave me answers. He told me that all he knew was that his boss was going in ahead of you, killing people you'd need to help folk who've been experimented on. So I came to find you. Well, I washed off three and a half months worth of grime and self pity first, but then I came to find you. I figured you'd need my knowledge."

I smiled and refrained from hugging Jenn as she drove. "Really do. You were the first person I wanted to contact but I didn't want to bug you even if I could find you."

Jenn nodded. "Yeah, well. I'm over the depression thing. I don't wanna do it anymore. Rosto would want me to be out there helping you."

"The last thing Rosto said to me was that he wanted me to look out for you," I sighed, receiving a curious look from Jenn, "and I haven't been doing that. I want to do that now."

Soon enough we were at the dock. I called David for a ride and he quietly told me that someone was on their way. We waited for a few minutes in relative silence. I say relative silence because Michael kept making little comments about the weather and Paine kept clearing his throat nervously. After a little while the boat showed up with Desmond, Daydream and Erol in it. All three looked worried but I didn't care. I was too happy to see them.

I flew at Daydream and hugged her tightly. She resisted for a moment but quickly hugged me back. "So were you guys able to find people who needed us?" I asked.

"Yes," Daydream replied softly.

"Mari, love," Erol sighed. "Honey, we need to talk."

I could hear that there was something wrong in his voice but I didn't want to deal with it. "Okay, we can talk later. I want to get Jenn and Paine here to those who need him."

Erol shook his head. "No, Mari, we need to talk now." He held out an envelope. "It's about Gia. She…um she got shot."

"She's been shot before," I chuckled nervously.

"Yeah…but this time it's really bad."

Daydream took my hand. "She's in a coma Mari and her vital signs are failing. She doesn't look like she'll make it and, if you read her letter, she didn't think she'd make it either."

I shook my head, not processing anything I was being told. "What are you talking about? Vital signs?" I couldn't for the life of me remember what that meant or how it was pertinent to Gia. She was fine, wasn't she?

Erol grabbed my shoulder and looked me in the eye. "Mari, honey, talk to me." Suddenly everyone's words hit me like a ton of bricks. Gia was dying. I felt all sense leave my body.

"She's in shock," Mollie whispered worriedly.

"Yeah, no shit," Erol growled. "Mari, c'mon. Order me around or something. Come back to me."

"Where is she?" I managed to whisper.

Erol looked concerned. "Up in Tennessee. The Henry County Hospital. You know the one where—"

"I remember the place." I turned to Daniel. "Take me there."

"I'm going with," Erol said quickly, as though I might object. I wouldn't have.

Daydream patted Desmond on the shoulder. "You take the others back to the house. I'm going with Mari." She gave me a questioning look and I nodded. I could use my best friends with me.

I grabbed onto Daniel and Daydream and Erol grabbed onto me. After a dizzying moment we were in the hospital, in a supply closet. Erol quickly began weaving through the hospital and led us to Gia's room. She looked so little and frail with those machines hooked up to her. I wanted to cry but I couldn't. Emotions raged inside of me but I felt completely numb.

A doctor came into the room and recognized Erol. "She's getting worse," he informed us. "Her brain scans are showing less and less activity as time passes. She's shutting down. I'm so sorry."

"Get out," I growled, marching over to Gia's side. The doctor apologized once more then left. "How did this happen?"

"We were resting up in a safe house not far from here when we were ambushed by some soldier types. I mean," he paused. "They didn't look like U.S. military but they were definitely organized and trained. They were led by Brandon, that guy who attacked us our first night in Florida. He…he got away. But he's just one in a spreading army. The guy who shot Gia…well we got some info out of him before I killed him. He said they were trying to counter us. Something about their leader being on your tail." He shook his head. "Anyway, Gia was the only one critically injured. Others got hurt but no one died. She…she knew it was coming."

I stared at my friend in her bed. I was so mad. This was all so wrong. I couldn't even fathom what would happen if I lost her. I just wouldn't let it happen. _She can't die,_ I silently fumed. _She just can't._ The lights began to flicker but I really didn't care about the shoddy wiring in the hospital.

"Mari," Daniel said, nervously. "What are you doing?"

_There has to be some way,_ I thought, ignoring my companions. _Maybe a blood transfusion. She has to live. I'm tired of people I love dying. I'm tired of people killing them. I'm tired of fighting._ I heard things shaking and saw the lights begin flickering more erratically. A few bulbs even blew.

"Mari, stop it," Daydream demanded, pulling me to face her.

I stared at my best friend curiously. She looked scared and there was a glow reflecting off her eyes. "Why are your eyes glowing?" I asked.

"They aren't, sweety. You are."

**_*Also, shameless plug, my book _Unexpected Destiny_ is available on Amazon and Barnes&Nobel and...anywhere. Seriously. Look it up. By Ariana N. Dickey. If you like my writing then check it out. :) *_**


	20. Get It Done

_Dear Mari,_

_Please don't be sad. I know that's a really dumb thing to say but the one thing I can't stand in this world is your tears. Even if I wasn't in love with you, you're my best friend and I want you to always be happy. I saw this coming as soon as we met Brandon. I knew there was a 30 to 1 chance I would die so I'm assuming I'm dead. The other option is too hazy. I don't see any way it's possible._

_So I leave you with this letter Mari. Please, don't be afraid of what's to come. I know you'll do well. I've always known. Stick to your instincts. The reason I sent you off without Erol and me is so that you could remember what it's like to rely on them. Others may seek to advise you but they'll accidentally lead you astray. I know it's scary for you to feel alone but you may have to feel that way for any of this to work. Of course, you'll never be alone. Desmond, Daydream and Erol will always be there even when it seems unlikely. Trust them explicitly._

_Erol will always love you, of this I'm sure, but you don't _have_ to always love him. There are more options I've seen and, while I'd rather love you myself, they may be equally perfect for you. Just, whatever you do, don't trust Michael completely. Please._

_I wish I could leave you with more but that's all I can bring myself to write. Please do good. You're capable of so much._

_Love,  
>Gia<em>

Daniel left to check on everyone back in Florida. Honestly, I think I just freaked him out, which was understandable. I wanted to get away from me. Daydream reassured me that it was fine and we'd figure it out but something about her seemed scared too. Only Erol didn't seem skittish around me. He was too busy trying to make me feel better, although nothing could.

I'd read Gia's letter seventeen times and it still didn't make much sense to me. Why couldn't I trust Michael? (okay so I didn't always like him but I didn't distrust him.) How could feeling alone be needed? What was this "other option"? Even more so, I wondered what the hell had happened when I began glowing and shaking the room.

"You have a lot of untapped powers, remember?" Daydream had reminded me. "You were upset so you unwittingly unleashed them." Why did she think that would make me feel better? What's more, why did she look even more scared than me?

I sat beside Gia's bed with her letter in my hand. It still smelled of her, and I don't mean that in a creepy way. I just held her letter close to my face kind of like a security blanket. I listened to the respiratory machine pump air in and out of her lungs and the heart monitor slowly beep in time with her heart. The noise made me feel better to know that she was kind of alive but it also made me anxious because she wasn't fully alive. I was a wreck, so it came as no surprise when I felt a presence in the room.

I turned my head to see the Trickster standing by the wall behind me. "What do you want?" I sighed, facing Gia once more.

"I wanted to check on you. We all felt you awaken earlier so I was a little worried. Although I'll deny it if anyone asks."

"You felt me awaken?"

The Trickster chuckled. "Yes, you didn't only shake this room. We felt your power rattling our realm. You awoke powers which have been lying mostly dormant for some twenty odd years."

I shook my head. "But how? I mean…what even was that?"

"How? Really?" He walked around Gia's bed to face me from the other side. He was smiling. I know, logically, that he wasn't smiling about Gia but the irrational part of me thought there was nothing to smile about. Had he not been a god I may have hit him. "That should be kind of obvious. Someone you love is dying. With extreme emotion comes extreme power. Now get to using that power."

"I'm a little busy at the moment," I sighed, listlessly.

The god rolled his eyes. "Busy? You're sitting here moping. Get up and do something." He put his hands on Gia's bed and leaned his weight onto it.

"Hey," I growled, "show a little respect!"

"She won't mind. She's not there," he said with a shrug. And then I lost it. Anger rolled through my body and then erupted in a force which caused the Trickster to be thrown against the wall behind him. I remained seated all the while, just glaring. The Trickster stood, laughing. "There's your true nature! Now go use it."

"Truth? You're talking about truth?" I scoffed. "How about we talk about Sarvajna?"

Some of the humor left his face. "What about her?"

"Odin said she was yours, special to you."

The god laughed. "Yes, and you should always trust Odin."

"At first I thought that meant she was one of your subjects but then I thought, 'Why would he go out of his way to avenge one subject?' So I figure, she's more than that."

All humor left the god and he gave me a hard stare. "Get it done."

"Get what done? All but one of the scientists on my list are dead. Isn't that what you wanted?" He pursed his lips and glared at me. "Isn't it?"

"I said to take out the bastards who did this. Do you think that's what I meant?" Then the Trickster vanished.

* * *

><p>"How can you afford to pay for her medical bills?" Erol asked Mollie, quite suspiciously. What did he think, she'd robbed a bank?<p>

Mollie just smiled. "Courtesy of my family. Let's not talk about it."

I hugged Mollie. "Thanks. They suggested I pull the plug but…"

"I understand," she sighed, moving a stray wisp of hair from in front of my face.

"Not yet at least…maybe at some point but…I'm not ready right now."

Erol put his arm around my shoulders. "No one is rushing you, love." I nodded, appreciatively. "Should we get back to home base?" We called Daniel and met him in the bushes outside. We couldn't keep appearing and disappearing via the closet.

We teleported to the dock in front of the house. Even from the dock I could tell the place was packed, a sight which both lightened my heart and made it heavy. On the one hand, this many people were suffering from the science experiments performed on them. On the other hand we found them and they were alive. I had to find the good in all of this or else…there was a distinct chance I wouldn't want to live anymore.

David gave me a sorrowful glance and said he was sorry about Gia, meanwhile his brother completely enveloped me in a warm hug. I said thanks to the Nortons and asked where I could find Paine. I went up to the Coder room, which he had made his medical center in the few days in which I had been at the hospital.

"What can you tell me?" I asked as I walked in, followed by Erol and Daydream. I noticed Elise and the fledgling we had saved helping Paine out.

"Hold on a minute!" Paine replied manically, clearly he was afraid to derail his train of thought which I respected.

I turned to the fledgling who smiled tentatively at me. "I'm sorry…I know you told me your name but—"

She waved her hands. "Not a problem. I heard about your troubles. Sorry about your friend." I nodded appreciatively. "Name's Abby."

"Right! 'Abigail but call me Abby.' Of course, I remember. Are you helping out?"

She nodded. "I'm doing everything I can. I had no idea about the folk who'd been abducted. I mean I heard about them, through that documentary, but I hadn't heard about them since. You know, the bad things that've been happening. Like—"

"Abby," Elise chuckled, not looking up from a chart she was filling out, "you're rambling again." Abby grimaced and mimicked locking her mouth up and throwing away the key.

I smiled, though I'd been crying so much it almost hurt to do so. "I'm glad you're feeling useful."

"She's proving to be useful, not just feeling it," Paine remarked as he finished up whatever it was he was doing. "But how are you?"

I raised a brow. "I'm fine," I said, tightlipped.

"Right, right. Get to the important stuff, okay good new first," Abby handed him a list so he could remember all of the points he needed to cover. "Most of the experiments appear to suffer from medically induced mental illnesses. Schizophrenia, tourettes, bipolar disorder, etcetera, etcetera. But these things can be treated. Daniel and I are working on a way in which to get these medications. He's going to do it through his fiancé who, apparently, is a doctor so she has access to those kinds of drugs or can at least tell us where we can go to steal…erm, procure some of them."

I sighed in relief. At least some of them were taken care of. "Alright, the bad news?"

Paine made a face. "Not 'bad' per se, just not as good yet. I haven't quite figured out how to help some of the more complicated ones. The Sarvajna girl for example. I'm not certain what they did to her. I wasn't in on the top secret experiments. This tells me they delved into things outside of my territory."

"Which would be?" Erol asked.

"Outside of my territory? Umm…some neurology mostly. The less covered stuff. Daniel and I are looking into getting access to certain equipment which will allow me to scan her brain. She _appears_ to have psychic abilities."

"How would a brain scan help you understand?" I asked, though I instantly regretted it. He spewed out a bunch of medical mumbo jumbo which just sounded like a foreign language to me. "Yeah, okay, just get it done and let me know what you find out…only in simpler terms."

Paine chuckled causing me to glare. "Sorry, it's just...Cara used to get the same way when I would spout off something scientific I learned."

"Oh, okay."

Paine smiled. "You have a lot of the same facial expressions you know. This one time—"

I furrowed my brow. "What are you doing? Is this like some twisted father daughter bonding thing to you?"

Paine rolled his eyes. "I just thought you might like to know more about your mother."

Everyone seemed to freeze around me. "She is _not_ my…" I took a deep breath. "Here's the deal: you know how a lot of adopted kids will sit around thinking about their birth parents? They wonder why they weren't worth keeping or what their birth parents might be up to. They want to contact them and find out about themselves through their blood. Well I didn't." Paine looked down at the floor. "I had parents who were ridiculously supportive of me and had unreasonably high expectations. They made me feel like I was perfect if I was just doing my best. They were wonderful. Now, I'm grateful that you and Cara brought me into the world and had the decency to give me to my parents, but that's it. I loved my parents and I don't want anyone to come in and blur the picture."

Paine looked up from the floor. "Loved? They died?"

I saw Erol and Daydream staring at me from the corner of my eyes. I'd never really spoken about it before. "Yeah, daddy died of prostate cancer when I was seventeen and mom died saving a fledgling during the initial rioting after vamps were outed."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," he sighed. "I'll get right on helping these people." Then Paine brushed past me and went out into the hall. For a moment I actually felt kind of bad. He meant well, he just wanted to connect, but I couldn't deal with it.

Erol moved so he was standing in front of me. "I never knew that about your parents."

I shrugged. "I haven't really told most people."

He tilted his head to the side. "Who did you tell?"

"Gia," Daydream responded for me. "She told her most everything." I nodded.

Erol held one of my hands and put his other hand under my chin to keep me from looking down like I was starting to. "What can we do for you Mari? How can we make this better?"

I held his gaze and said the first thing that came to my mind. "Call for reinforcements."


	21. Understand

**_*Quick reminder, I posted links to buy my real life book on my profile. Buy it or don't. I mean...I'd like it if ya'll bought it but I don't want to clutter _Blessed_ with advertisements. Lol. Alright, chapter 21: GO*_**

"Nyx all mighty," Jordan chuckled as we sat by the dock, "you never want for excitement do you Mari?"

"That is oh so helpful," I sighed, although he got me to smile.

Jason shook his head. "I'm with Jordan here. You just seem to find trouble and drama. By the way, I'm a little tired of this blessed girl crap I've been hearing. 'Oh, you fought with the blessed one? How lucky for you.' It's enough to make me kill a person."

Kimmy placed a hand on his shoulder. "And that is even less helpful, hun." Jason quickly shut up. I had to admit, it was kind of nice to see Jason whipped by the little priestess. My three friends had arrived after a few days accompanied by Boudicca and four of Lucas's warriors. Well, they were Boudicca's warriors now but I would always know them as Lucas's warriors. It was habit.

"Alright, I'm a drama magnet," I said with playful resignation.

Jason smiled and muttered, "It's one of your super powers." Kimmy eyed the Son of Erebus. "Right, I know, not helpful."

"Hmm? No, sorry I was just thinking about Mari's powers that's all," Kimmy replied, turning back to Daydream and Erol. "You said she had sort of an out pour of powers in the hospital. What was that like, exactly?"

"Intense," Erol sighed, shaking his head. "At first it was just the lights flickering, then all of the electricity started going. Like, the nurse's radio started playing different stations and a TV in the waiting area did the same."

Daydream nodded from her place in Desmond's arms. "Then her energy…expanded. I could feel it pressing against my skin. I checked the news, they are ruling it as an earthquake although they're still puzzled over why it would have happened there. It had a three mile radius, a pretty contained earthquake if nothing else."

"And let's not forget the glowing," Erol added.

Boudicca shuddered a little. "Did we know Mari was capable of this?" I tried not to let Boudicca's obvious fear bother me, but it was hard. I had this powerful warrior woman terrified. Me! It worried me a little.

"Sort of," Kimmy replied. "I mean, we knew Nyx had told her that she had the ability to destroy as well as create; hurt as well as heal. She was meant to completely balance the scales."

"Wow," one of the warriors commented, looking at me with sad eyes. "That must be horrible. To have such a capacity for destruction and know you could unwittingly unleash it. It must suck to be you."

I chuckled nervously. "Yeah, it's a little bit scary, but it's only surfaced once really…twice so I'm sure it's nothing to be too afraid of—"

Jenn rolled her eyes. "Mari, calm down. We've always known you were powerful. We're not all going to turn on you now. Part of why we're here is to help you gain control. So you don't have to lie to us about how you're feeling."

"She's right," David sighed. "This isn't war anymore, you don't have to keep us at arms length."

I nodded as they addressed exactly what was going through my mind. They knew me too well. "Yeah, it really does suck. I need to figure it out, pronto. I just wish I didn't have so many things to figure out."

"Like the Trickster's orders?" Desmond asked, cocking his head to the side.

I pulled my fingers through my hair. "Yeah, to name one. That guy is frustrating me."

"I think he means the government," Jordan sighed with certainty. The rest of us looked at him like he had a chicken on his head.

Jenn chuckled and shook her head. "Lemme get this straight, you think he wants us to take out the government?"

Not liking her tone, Jordan grew more passionate and thusly louder. "Then who do you blame? The government sanctioned your kidnapping Jenn. They allowed you and many others to be toyed with." Jenn played with her sweat band. "I think he wants a revolution. I think he blames the government and I do too."

One of the warriors nodded. "I second that."

"The government isn't a being…" Erol whispered, barely audibly. Then he looked up and, if I hadn't known any better, I could have sworn there were tears in his eyes. "The government isn't an entity. It doesn't make decisions. The people who run it do and they do so based on what they think will be the best interest of the people. Yeah, they made some decisions which cost some million of the people their inalienable rights but…you can't blame the government. Fear is the big bad…" He looked off to the horizon. "That's what Gia told me. And…she's right. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

There was a brief moment of silence then Connor replied, "Are you sure that was Gia? Because I'm pretty sure a Roosevelt said the last part." Erol started to glare but when he saw the playful look on Connor's face he had to smile. "Okay, so fear is the big bad…how do we fight that?"

Kimmy blew air through her lips. "You don't. You just…relieve fear. You know? If you're scared of a monster under the bed your parents shine a light down there and stick their head under there shouting 'Any monsters in here?' until you're certain the threat is eliminated."

Jason smiled proudly and kissed Kimmy on the top of the head. "The brain here has a point." Kimmy grinned at him. "We just have to relieve their fear which is _way_ harder than fighting a tangible enemy."

We sat for a moment in slightly defeated silence. He was right. It was a daunting task and we didn't know how to go about it. We were a bunch of fighters not diplomats, save for Daydream and Kimmy. "Okay," I said, clearing my throat and trying to sound authoritative, "then let's focus on a tangible enemy for the moment. Those vigilantes who've gone through killing all of the scientists and vampyres we've been looking for."

Jenn went rigid for a moment. "And…only the ones you were specifically looking for…right?"

I opened my mouth to respond then hopped aboard her train of thought. "Okay…I have a new plan."

* * *

><p><em>I stood in the middle of the dessert. It was dry but it wasn't hot. There was a cool breeze easing the scorching sun and hot sand. So I wasn't surprised when a beautiful woman appeared before me. "Hello, child," Nyx said, serenely. She had a cactus bloom in her hair and looked like she completely belonged in the dessert. She could thrive there, goddess or no. She had the kind of strength and ingenuity it took.<em>

"_Hello Nyx," I replied, unreasonably comfortable with the keeper of souls. She was death and life, two very scary things, but I wasn't scared. "Am I doing something wrong?"_

_The goddess chuckled, sending shivers up my spine. She had such a pleasant laugh. "No, I just…it has been a while."_

_I touched my exposed Mark. "Yes, I've been visited by some not so pleasant gods of late. I've missed you. Your presence is so much more…calming."_

"_Maybe you do not need calming right now Mari," she sighed. "Maybe you need to be on edge, thinking ahead. You are in a terrible situation after all."_

_I laughed. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know."_

"_As you wish." I looked over to see the goddess with a serious look on her face. "Tepoztecal is a lot like me, he wishes to enrich the lives of his subject but over all loves seeing what they do with their own free will. You have noticed Daniel does not spout of about what his god wants all the time." I nodded. "Aphrodite wants to be like us but really has a hard time not interfering. She wants everything to be perfect. Odin tries to have complete control. I am sure you have noticed since Connor becomes completely overtaken when he is having his visions. It is not a bad thing necessarily but…it is a difference."_

_I thought about this. "Right. But why do I need to know this?"_

"_You know why Mari," Nyx sighed. "And it is why the Trickster brought these people to you. It is good to understand with whom you are dealing." She gave me a meaningful look. "Do you understand, Mari?"_

"_Unfortunately…I think I do."_


	22. Predator

**_*A bit short but it's something right?*_**

"Oh my God," Detective Handler cried, breathing jaggedly and clutching her chest. "All of them?"

"All but one," Erol growled, trying to seem threatening.

Monica shook her head. "I never would have thought…I didn't show the list to anyone but you, I swear!" she added, suddenly worrying about how she would seem. That told me she was telling the truth although, honestly, I never suspected her at any point. She was honest, through and through. "Hell, I never even let my contacts see anything but their contributions to the list. I don't know…" She took a deep breath which was smart. She was beginning to hyperventilate which was rather unbecoming of an officer of the law.

Jordan shook his head. "She's telling the truth. She also needs to _calm down_ before she pops a lung," he said in his most charming yet condescending manner. Jordan had that way about him. It was probably why I fell for him back when we met. Monica smiled a little and took a deep breath. "Is there nothing you can tell us?" Monica shrugged helplessly.

I reached out and placed a hand on the detective's shoulder. "It's fine Monica. We aren't here to place blame."

Michael rolled his eyes and ceased his insufferable pacing for a moment. "Then why are we here? Because I'm certainly not clear on this point. I thought we were supposed to be doing something. Avenging some wrongs done to your little girlfriend or something."

Everyone else glared at Michael so I didn't have to. Instead I continued to look at and speak to Monica, as if Michael hadn't even spoken. "Detective, we'd like another list. As complete as you can make it, you know without getting yourself caught or killed. Don't take any risks just…get us a list. Any little bit of information could help." She nodded, apologizing profusely, and quickly left.

"And what good will a new list do us?" Michael demanded. "Haven't those guys killed everyone?"

Mollie smiled, demonstrating the patience of a saint. "No. Mari, Elise, Connor, Jenn and I scoured the web. For every death of someone on our list they specifically said that these people were former scientists for the government. There haven't been any scientists outside of our list who have been killed."

"So it stands to reason that they're actually working off of the same list," Michael completed. He thought on this for a moment then turned to me. "Still, doesn't this just seem like an exercise in futility?"

I stared for a moment. "Do you really hate my ideas or just that you can't read my mind to find out my reasoning?" He opened his mouth to reply but I didn't let him. "Paine needs help from people who understand the more complicated neurological issues. He's treating what he can but he needs help."

Michael creased his brows in thought which seemed to upset Jason a little. "Look, you know she's right. I mean, I tend to be her biggest opposition but I know that when she's right, she's right and just leave it the hell alone." I struggled not to smile and looked down at my shoes. I had missed no bullshit Jason.

Michael pursed his lips, considering an attack upon Jason but seemed to think better of it. Smart move. "I do understand Mari, that doesn't stop me from thinking it is futile."

I examined him for a moment. "So think it. I can't control your thoughts. Just try to keep those thoughts to yourself. Especially if they involve speaking of Gia, because I'm not the only one who cared about her." My friends straightened up, showing their agreement.

"Alright," Michael sighed. "So what's the plan?"

* * *

><p>Brandon made his way through the camp they'd set up. After their leader's…well they weren't allowed to call it a defeat. Since the enemy had cheated their leader out of his victory he'd decided to reside in California until they made their next move. So they had taken over a camp ground. Brandon had arrived after his team attacked one of the enemy teams. Sure they had only killed one girl, barely past the Change, but it was a small victory over their enemy.<p>

He approached his leader's tent and announced his presence. "Enter," a voice called. Brandon entered and saw his leader sitting on his cot with a crystal hovering over a map. "Ah, come in."

Brandon cocked a brow. "Are you scrying sir?"

"No, that implies that I'm succeeding in some way. I'm simply grasping at straws," the man chuckled. He took a deep breath then looked expectantly at Brandon. "But I'm assuming you have news."

"We've heard from our partner. The girl decided to go back to their detective friend and get a new list." He handed a copy of the list to his leader who took it eagerly.

The man looked from the list to the map, marking where some of the listed scientists lived. "So what is her plan of action?"

"That's the sad part; it's the same as before."

He looked up at his follower. "You're joking."

Brandon laughed, shaking his head. "Nope. She has some groups out gathering afflicted vampyres and sending vampyres in trouble to safe houses. Meanwhile, her group will follow the list from east to west. Same as before."

"Hmm," the leader sighed, looking a little disappointed. "I heard she wasn't the brightest but this is ridiculous. I expected she'd be at least a somewhat worthy opponent. This is just…pathetic."

"So what shall we do sir?"

The leader was lost in thought for a moment before a smile spread across his face. "Well, what kind of predator would I be if I didn't toy with my prey a little?"

Brandon furrowed his brow. "I don't catch your meaning sir."

"We start from the end of the list. Let her gather those scientists, think she's winning then meet her in the middle. I've been wanting a face to face with the mythical Mari."

**_*WHO is this guy? I don't know but he's freaking me out. :P *_**


	23. Not The Only One

**_*Sorry it's been a little while but I was busy with family stuff. Mainly, that the newest member of my extended family, Lucy Rogue, was born. YAY! So I was busy helping her parents with their other two little ones. Anyway, belated update. Here ya go.*_**

I'll admit it, I had sex with Erol the night before we set out to take on the list. I'm not proud of the neediness I displayed, it was pretty obvious that grief and fear of losing Erol as well as Gia fueled me, but I'm not sorry I did it. I was tired of stopping myself. Tired of letting logic control me. I wanted to be with Erol and had wanted to for a year. He understood how I was feeling and didn't care. He'd wanted me too, more than I wanted him he claimed. It wasn't the raw passion I'd experienced with Jordan but it wasn't lacking for heat. Something about it seemed sweeter than any other sexual or even semi-sexual experience I'd ever had. It was loving and comforting and desperately called for and perfect. I wanted to lay there with him forever. There were moments when it was just us. There was no other part of the world. There were no vampyres being hunted or gods to be appeased. There were no friends in danger or dead or dying. There was him and there was me. Whenever I'd feel myself starting to panic or cry I'd listen to his heartbeat and his lungs taking in and expelling air then I would resume my calm.

Of course, moments can't last. That's why they are called moments. Soon enough, I was thrust back into the search. This time, however, we immediately encountered success. The very first house we visited contained the very first scientist on our list. Alive. Not a dead body or anything. A real live person. He was terrified we'd come to kill him and pleaded with us that he was just a pawn, carrying out treatments and not privy to any of the results. We promised him that we were there to save him from the killers and he quickly admitted to knowing a bit more than he'd led on. He wouldn't be the most useful but any little bit of help was more than we had before.

The next thirteen houses, of the forty on the list, were pretty much the same story. Some were more helpful than most, some had more theoretical experience and some more practiced experience but all of them were (drum roll please) alive. It was wonderful after the disappointments the first time around.

"I wish we'd brought Daniel along," Mollie sighed as we continued to add more people to our party. Luckily she'd used her family money and rented us a bus.

"It would be convenient to just pop in and out of these places," Astrid chuckled, with Tony nodding in agreement beside her. "And faster, and less crowded—"

"It'd certainly smell better," Jordan added, shoving Erol.

Erol shoved him back. "I've already told you, you're the one who smells ripe!"

"Children, don't make me come back there," Desmond warned from the driver's seat, taking a cup of coffee from Daydream. I had to admit it was nice having most of my group back together. We'd had to leave Jenn and Kimmy behind to help Paine and the vampyres, since they needed a priestess if nothing else, but those who came with were helpful and so good to be around. Connor, Jordan and Erol were excellent sources of amusement, Daydream and Desmond were very comforting and Jason was a helpful sounding board as well as strategist. Of course Mollie, Astrid and Tony were invaluable but I'd been traveling with them for a while now and was grateful to have my old friends back.

Michael, however, went between supportive and pain in my ass. "Mari said Daniel had some things to do," he sighed, more bored than anything.

"He's doing some chores for Tyler and David," I replied, distractedly. I'd been pretty curt lately. Not like when I was being a general. I wasn't cutting myself off or anything. I was just distracted. Between trying to figure out what all of these gods were expecting of me and worrying about my friends, especially poor comatose Gia, I was constantly thinking and planning.

Carlton, an extremely nerdy and excitable scientist, flipped through his notebook. "Daniel, he's the servant of Tepoztecal correct?"

Connor laughed and rolled his eyes. "Yes." Carlton had decided to chronicle our journey. He thought it needed to be remembered. If nothing else he hoped to repent for his part in the Baggings by showing the world who the vamps and vamp supporters really were. He said he didn't want history to repeat itself as it so often does when we ignore or forget events. Don't get me wrong, not everyone we'd come across wanted to make up for their actions. We had six men and women who sat in the back looking uncomfortable all of the time. Not that we bothered to make them feel comfortable but that wasn't the goal right now and they knew that they were safer with us than out on their own.

"And this popping she mentioned is his ability to bend his way through reality, yes?"

Astrid looked over at Mollie. "I thought 'pop' was a pretty good description."

"Okay," Daydream sighed, plopping down next to me. "So, who's next?"

I looked at the list. "Umm…number fifteen Dr. Lucy Conlin."

Carlton shifted his focus to me. "Really? I knew her. She's brilliant. I mean, she refused to talk to her coworkers but her work spoke for itself."

Jason turned around in his seat in front of us to look at Daydream and me. "So she might have been more committed," he sighed.

I nodded. "So she may be harder to convince to help. Which is a pity if she's really as smart as he says."

Daydream furrowed her brow. "Do we force her to help? I mean we've yet to come across someone who refused. What do we do in that instance?"

"We leave them," I sighed quickly. The thought had occurred to me before.

Jordan looked across the aisle at me. "You sure? We wouldn't just…make her come? I mean she'd be invaluable."

"And we'd be kidnappers," Astrid reminded him. "We'd be the monsters people think we are."

Mollie nodded in agreement. "The people who are here are here voluntarily more or less. I mean, they're forced by fear to be here but not by us. If we want to change how people see vampyres we're going to have to continue to do good."

Jordan shrugged. "I guess."

Daydream smiled. "It's their own free will we're talking about Jordan. And that's something Nyx values above all else; free will."

I smiled and put my head on my best friend's shoulder. "Aptly put."

After a while we arrived at a small outpost in the middle of woodland in Missouri. It seemed Dr. Conlin had been given the new identity of a park ranger. I decided it would be best if only a few of us went to the door. The group was a little overwhelming to me and they were my group. Instead, Jason, Daydream, Astrid, Mollie and I went to the door. I know, you're probably surprised I took hardcore, punky Astrid to the door, but the truth is Mollie had softened her up. Over our travels the two had become close friends and, with Mollie's influence, Astrid had put her guard down a little. She was still wicked strong and good at fighting but she no longer needed to be overly aggressive.

We knocked and, after some crashing sounds inside, a woman in her early to mid forties answered the door. Her silver streaked red hair was a mess and she squinted her bright blue eyes in pain as she rubbed her shin. "Dammit, I've gotta clean up. Yes? Can I help you?"

"Doctor Conlin?" I asked.

"Umm, nope. Ranger Sally. We don't have any doctors out here."

I glanced back at Mollie who confirmed that she was lying. "Look, ma'am, we're here because we need your help and you need ours."

She leaned against the doorway and examined me. "Beg pardon? I need you? How's that?"

"There are people going around _killing_ scientists who worked in the testing facility for the Bagged," Astrid explained slowly. "Many of your fellow scientists are dead and you could be next."

"And you could help us by treating some of the messed up experiments," Jason added, less delicately than Astrid.

This seemed to catch Conlin's attention. She tried to maintain a cool façade but her eyebrows raised slightly. "Messed up experiments?"

Daydream nodded. "Many of those who were tested on are having adverse reactions to both the experimentation and the withdrawal from the medications they were on."

The woman allowed her façade to drop and examined us. "So you're going through finding experiments who need to be fixed?"

"We've already found many," I sighed. "Not as many as need our help unfortunately. But we're also searching for people who can help them."

Conlin shrugged. "Most of the scientists who worked in the facility won't be much help I'm sure. They mostly carried out orders."

I let out a dry laugh. "Yeah, we've noticed. But we do have Edward Paine," her eyes widened a little, "and he's been very helpful. Unfortunately he doesn't know very much about—"

"Neurology," Conlin finished. My team shared a glance. Conlin nodded and pushed past us. "Come with me." We followed her a little ways into the woods until we came to a large tree. Conlin looked around then _opened_ a door in the trunk. We followed her into some tunnels underneath the woods.

"Honestly?" Jason sighed. "How many secret areas are just under our feet? I mean, the hidden city in Maine, the tunnels in Tennessee…there's a lot going on underground that we don't know about."

We came to a stop as we reached the end of the tunnel we were in. It opened up into a large area. An area filled with vampyres and humans and medical equipment. "Boy are you right, Jason," Astrid added, staring at all of the experiments in awe.

"What the hell is this?" I demanded, almost expecting her to admit she'd continued experimenting.

"You've been going around trying to save those whose lives have been terribly afflicted by the effects of the experimentation," Conlin replied. "Well, you're not the only one."

**_*And yes, I did name the doctor Lucy after my little cousin.*_**


	24. Drawn

**_*Sorry. It's a bit short and way overdue but here's the next chapter. I promise the next one will be longer and MUCH more interesting. Heh.*_**

We sat down with Conlin in her office but we could still see the experiments through her window. She had nearly a fourth of our numbers but it still overwhelmed me a little. Maybe it was because of the sheer number of people we hadn't gotten to or maybe it was because the place too closely resembled the testing facility. It was like they'd never left. Like I'd never freed them. This thought seemed to weigh on me more heavily than me freeing them only to leave them to die.

"My daughter, Vanessa, had just been Marked when the Baggings started," Conlin sighed, pointing to a young redheaded vampyre who was talking to some of the fledglings. "Isn't that how it always is? Just as something becomes a big national deal it applies to you as well? Anyhow, my work had also been published not long before. I'd done extensive theoretical research into neurological reprogramming and messing with genetics. All in theory remember. Then some big men show up at my door, without names or credentials, with a handful of special ops forces. They demanded my daughter and I was just crying and begging them to find some other way…it's what they expected me to say. Next thing I know, I'm being forced to apply some of my theories. Every part of me was screaming that it was wrong but…"

Astrid nodded and placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "They kept your daughter where you could see her…locked up."

Conlin smiled grimly. "I was afraid of what they'd do to her. I knew that these were other people's babies but…my baby was…" She paused and cleared her throat. "I did what little I could for them. Helped some escape. I spent a little while only pretending I was experimenting but…they caught on surprisingly fast. They took it out on Vanessa…and made me watch a tape of it." Mollie held her hand as Astrid continued rubbing her shoulders. "I'm not excusing what I did—"

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter. We actually had an Ultimate Bagger sent in to infiltrate our operation. He was doing it to save his brother. Now he's one of our greatest fighters." Mollie and Astrid gave me a funny look. "David," I informed them. "What matters is what you are doing now."

"So how did you find them all? How did you know where to look?" Jason asked, slightly uncomfortable with the emotions being displayed.

"That's the weird thing, most of them found me," she sighed with a shrug. "They said they felt pulled to this area," she motioned to the underground area we were in, "and found me in the process. Some of them, though, my daughter sought out with information from some contacts."

My phone suddenly rang. "Hello?" I answered.

"_Mari, where the hell are you guys?" _Erol asked. _"Jordan and I are getting kinda antsy."_

"_You're making us nervous!"_ Jordan called out in the background.

I looked around at all of the experiments then back to Conlin. "How many do you think you have here?" I whispered, my hand over the mouth piece.

"Thirty. Plus my daughter and me. Why?"

"Hey Erol, do you think we have room for thirty two more in our bus?"

"_Ummm,_" I heard him quietly count. _"Yes…why?"_

I laughed. "Well…you'll have to see it to believe it." I hung up abruptly then smiled at Conlin. "Ma'am, I'm going to need you to come with us. It's for your own sake as well as the sake of many more experiments in need of your help."

The woman looked at me for a second as though she was about to say no. She stood and walked out into her little facility. Her stiffened walk slowly got everyone's attention. "Everyone, pack what you need. We're getting out of here."

* * *

><p>You could tell which of these Coders had spent more time on the run because they were ready to leave fastest. Those of us who had to run from Baggers for…oh say two years or so knew how to pack quickly and efficiently. But even those who packed more slowly did so quickly (if you can make heads or tails of that statement you deserve the grand prize). Dr. Conlin, Lucy she told us to call her, calmly broke her group up into four groups. She figured they'd be too noticeable as a big group and I wholeheartedly agreed. So Mollie and Astrid led one group, Jason led another, Daydream another and I led the last group toward our bus.<p>

My group had eight people besides myself, most of whom were fledglings or just barely past the change. One fledgling boy looked at me as we awaited our moment to leave. "I remember you," he said with a grin. "You came to get us fledglings when you guys were freeing all of us." A couple of them nodded, remembering me as well.

"You remember me?" I chuckled, trying not to show how nervous I was that they'd resent me.

A girl laughed. "Yeah. 'Everyone who wants to get the hell out of here come with me!' Not an easy thing to forget."

I rolled my eyes. "Did I really say that?"

The boy smiled. "It was really heroic sounding at the time."

"Yeah, it was real heroic the way I doomed you all to suffer from the effects of the experiments"

"That was pretty dumb of you," the boy replied. I felt my heart squeeze. "But you're making up for it now, aren't you?"

I nodded feeling a little better. "Good point."

We made our way over to the bus. Everyone else had begun boarding and I sent my group to join them. Erol made his way over to me. "Hey, Mollie told me about this Dr. Conlin. What luck, huh?"

I shook my head. "I don't think luck had anything to do with it." Erol gave me a funny look. "They were drawn to her. Guided by something."

"Nyx?"

I shrugged. "Or maybe the Trickster. Who knows?"

Erol smiled and kissed me sweetly. "You'll figure it out."

I stared at the group loading up the bus. "I really hope you're right."


	25. Dangerous

**_WARNING: One F-bomb is dropped in this chapter.  
><em>**

**_*This would have been up earlier but I finished writing the chapter and suddenly my computer DELETED everything. So I had to write it all over again. I was much happier with it the first time around but oh well. Enjoy.* _**

Okay so I hadn't thought ahead in terms of the whole "Let's load a bunch of people onto a bus" plan. It got cramped and stinky and…cranky, to say the least. But still, we got it done. It was nice to have a couple of extra bodies who could drive the bus, since Desmond was the only one in the original group who was able. It was also nice to have extra eyes. The scientist after Conlin, Lucy she told us to call her, was in an area _surrounded_ by VHB and the extra eyes ended up saving my life. I was inches away from being stabbed to death. An unpleasant way to go as far as far as death is concerned. And the scientist after that had even more of those unpleasant dudes lurking about. It was enough to make a girl wonder if this was a coincidence, but I didn't care. We were coming up on scientist number twenty and none of them had turned up dead yet! It was a plus in my book. I was used to death but that didn't mean I liked running into it.

Scientist number twenty, Dr. Parker Abrams, was located near Lebanon, Kansas. It had only been a couple of days since we'd picked up Lucy and her Coders but, after being cramped all together, it seemed like a while longer. I was sitting, meditating, when I felt someone sit beside me. I opened a single eye to see Mollie smiling at me. "Whatcha doing?" she asked.

"Trying not to go crazy and kill everyone," I sighed. "You know, close quarters and all. Erm..no quarters actually."

Mollie gave me a pitying glance. "You're worried about your untapped powers."

"No," I scoffed. She continued to stare. "Well, yes, obviously. But that's not why I was meditating. It's the normal kind of 'kill people' I fear. Not the magical kind. Mostly." Mollie smiled. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be sitting with Astrid or something?"

"Well, I would but…" She jerked her head, signaling me to look across the aisle, a couple rows back. Astrid was sitting with Vanessa Conlin, flirting girlishly. Although, I couldn't be certain Vanessa had noticed. "Someone has a crush," Mollie gushed.

I shook my head. "You get way too much enjoyment out of this."

"Hello?" she giggled. "I'm not a follower of Aphrodite for nothing." She grinned. "Speaking of, aren't you and Erol all…cozy these days? I mean…I know you two…"

I nodded and tried to look out the window but I felt her staring into the back of my head. "Well yes we did…but…I just…"

"You feel guilty," Mollie supplemented. "Because of Gia?"

"No…and yes," I sighed. Sometimes talking to Mollie took a lot out of me. "I mean…because of the state she's in…I feel guilty having any good things happen. Not just Gia. Everyone. Once all this is over I'll be fine. I'll romance and party to my heart's content. But for now—"

Mollie stared. "You can't put off your happiness like that. There'll always be _something_ going down. You of all people should know that. Shit happens and there's not always something you can do about it. So you have to take your pleasures where you can find them."

I knew what she meant but I wasn't feeling a heavy conversation. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

Mollie scoffed. "In your dreams." That shut her up.

I just couldn't do the conversation anymore. The lecture. Daydream and David had been giving me the same basic lecture for a while, long before we'd attacked the testing facility. But I couldn't help it. I was goal oriented.

The bus stopped and Desmond turned around. "Alright, we're here." He pointed to a small chapel in the middle of nothing.

"What's over there?" a scientist asked.

Erol glanced at the small marker she was talking about. "Geographic Center of the U.S. We passed through here on our way to the testing facility." He then proceeded to look sad when he remembered that most of his team had died in that battle.

Carlton squinted at the sight. "What a strange coincidence that the half way marker for the U.S. be the halfway marker for our little journey." He gave a dopey grin.

I shook my head and sighed. "I don't believe in coincidences." Everyone stared at me for a moment. "Desmond, Erol, Tony, Astrid and Michael, come with me."

Michael furrowed his brows. "Me?"

"Yes," I replied. "Did I stutter?"

Michael shrugged, not getting up from his seat. "You just never take me in."

"Well I'm taking you now. Maybe I'll need your mind reading abilities. You ever consider that? You know…being useful?"

Michael gave me a hard look. It was the same look he gave people when he read their minds only mine was off limits. He hit the psychic wall and I could almost sense Jordan smiling, proud of his work. Michael shrugged again and got up to leave the bus.

Mollie pulled me so I was sitting beside her again. "What's going on? I hate to take his side but you honestly never take him."

I rolled my eyes and got off the bus. Erol stood waiting for me, like he was my armed escort, while Astrid, Tony and Desmond looked around for any possible attackers. Michael scratched his head looking a little concerned. I looked over my shoulder at Mollie and Daydream. "Keep your senses open. We may need back up."

Before they could question me I took my team forward. I walked quickly and with a purpose toward the little chapel in which our scientist was supposed to have taken refuge. Tony opened the door and I was immediately overwhelmed by the stench of death. Once the door was wide open we could see why. A young man lay slain on one of the four little pews and five men and one woman stood facing us.

"How nice of you to show up," a pasty and dark haired man said. "The lovely Mari at last. Good to meet the woman who is my only opposition."

I cocked a brow and tried not to let the revulsion I felt show. "How nice to meet someone I've never heard of nor cared about. Lemme guess, you killed all of my scientists the first time around." I saw Desmond and Erol poised to pounce and noticed why. "Oh, and Brandon. Nice to see you sober. You hurt a friend of mine."

Brandon allowed his confusion to show. "Hurt?"

"Seems your one kill wasn't one at all," the other man snarled, making Brandon look nervous. Interesting.

"No, in fact, she's going to be just fine," I said with confidence I didn't entirely feel. But the way I said it kind of reminded me of Gia and Daydream when they know what's going to happen. That obnoxious _I know something you don't know_ kind of way.

"How did you find us?" Astrid growled. I could tell it was taking everything in her to not attack these people.

I glanced at Astrid. "I've told you not to worry about that." She gave me an incredulous stare. "So…gosh, I don't even know your name."

His lips curled into what I can only assume was meant to be a smile. "Damien."

I nodded. "Kay. So Damien…how's the hunting been going?" I grinned.

"Funny you should ask," he replied through gritted teeth. "Not so great."

"Why are we just talking like this?" Tony shouted. "What, are you going to passive aggressive him to death? How the hell did you know we were here?"

I shook my head sadly. "I told you not to worry." I looked at Michael. "You should probably go join your real side." My team froze as did Michael.

"What?" he scoffed.

"I know you're the one who leaked our list both times. My guess is Damien here is also a follower of Odin." Michael's eyes widened.

"You fucking traitor," Astrid screamed, lunging at Michael. Desmond and Tony just barely stopped her in time. "We fought side by side and you—"

I felt a power within me surge and a tendril of it reach out to Astrid. "Calm," I ordered and, much to my surprise, she did. "Michael, it's probably in your best interest if you move over toward your real team."

Damien shook his head in disgust as Michael scrambled to join him. "What have you done with the scientists?" Damien demanded.

Michael stared. "You didn't get them?"

Brandon shook his head. "They were gone before we got there."

Michael gave me a funny look before he realized what I'd done. "You…that's why Daniel hasn't been with us."

My team looked curiously at me. "More or less. He's been done for like a week now. He's been helping Paine get medicine since then."

"How did you know we'd start from the end?" Damien demanded through clenched teeth.

I shrugged. "I didn't. I've also had some very powerful warriors patrolling our path keeping an eye out for your people. I suppose you've noticed your numbers thinning."

Michael became agitated and growled, "Boudicca and her warriors. Dammit!"

"See, what I don't get is why you did it."

Brandon scoffed. "I told you I couldn't stand to see these monster live—"

"Not you," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "I was talking to Damien."

Brandon gave me a haughty look. "The same reason as me, you idiot."

Damien pursed his lips then sighed. "Oh Brandon…you're no longer of use to me." Before Brandon could question this statement there was a needle in his neck. He gasped in pain but was soon enough seizing on the floor. He began foaming at the mouth and gasping for air but died fairly quickly. I never really looked at him. My eyes stayed on Damien. He gave a grim smile and signaled to his crony closest to Brandon to hold up a little vial. "Curare," he explained.

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I've seen it in use before. But that doesn't answer my question."

Damien sighed and gave me a patronizing look. "I'm not some villain you're going to get to monologue about his big bad plan. I'm not even the one in charge. Hell, I'm not even really here."

"I figured as much," I sighed. And I had. Something about him hadn't seemed intimidating. "Astral projection?"

He nodded, seeming quite proud of himself. "I taught myself how to do it. Took most of my teen years."

"I'll bet. Time well spent not getting laid." I heard Astrid and Tony snicker but Erol and Desmond seemed to move closer to protect me. Like he could do anything.

Damien glared then shrugged, conceding the point. "Alright, I will tell you one thing. You wanna know why I chose to work with Brandon and his supremacists?" I shrugged. I guess I kind of wanted to know but it wasn't a big concern, especially now that he was dead. "They created such wonderful chaos and chaos is a brilliant way to create order." He smiled then looked to the people on his side. "Kill them," he ordered lazily before he disappeared.

Kill them? He wasn't even man enough to take me on himself? Bastard. My friends took fighting stances but I didn't care. I took charge of the situation. It was just instinct. The chapel began to shake.

"Oh shit," I heard Erol gasp.

"I'm getting Daydream," Desmond shouted.

I didn't care. I took a few steps forward then stopped. I put my arms out at my sides with my palms facing the three men and the woman Damien had left behind. My body felt charged so I simply released. Electricity. Retrospectively, it was a scary sight but at the time…I felt distant. Numb. I watched as the men and woman were electrocuted in front of me. It was fairly quick and soon I turned on a terrified Michael.

"Please Mari," he begged. "I'm sorry, don't hurt me. I was just following orders."

"So were the Nazis," I scoffed, in a voice not like my own. "Why is Damien doing this?"

Michael shook his head so I held out my hand and, without touching him, began to choke him. Erol grabbed my shoulders. "Mari, love, snap out of it. C'mon."

"Shit," Astrid began repeating, in a panic.

"Why?" I demanded.

"I don't know," he gasped, clawing desperately at the intangible hands that choked him. "I just did as I was told."

I heard my team talking worriedly but didn't care. "Told by whom?"

"WHO DO YOU THINK?" he choked out, turning colors.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Daydream looking into my eyes. "Mari, honey. Let go."

The next thing I knew…I had fainted. I woke up in the back of the bus with my head on Erol's lap, Daydream at my side and Mollie holding my hand nervously. I asked what happened and they told me about what I had done, of which I had a vague memory. Basically my electrical attack had gotten a little out of control and set fire to the chapel. Astrid punched Michael, knocking him out, and left him there as they carried me out. She believed he should die, she just didn't want me to stain my hands any further by doing it.

I had burned down a chapel.

I had killed four people.

I was dangerous.


	26. Failsafe

**_*Sorry this is late and not terribly exciting but...plot advancement and all that. I promise the next update won't be so far off. By the way, I suggest listening to _Safe and Sound_ while reading this. I pretty much had it on repeat when I wrote this chapter.*_**

I sat in the back of the bus with my knees pulled into my chest and my eyes staring, unfocused, out the window. No one bothered me. They stared at me mostly. Some looked nervous and others terrified. I wish I could say that I didn't notice because I was still numb. But I could feel their eyes burning into me. Erol and Daydream tried to distract me but they seemed to fear me too. And I couldn't blame them. The things I had done were beyond horrible, even if they were to people who pretty much deserved it. Hell, in all fairness, it was us or them. I would have fought them and probably killed at least one of them. It was the lack of control and the scary power that really upset me. If nothing else, that fire could have killed an innocent bystander or one of my team members.

About halfway back through Missouri the bus gave out. Rather than try to fix it or wait for a mechanic, we contacted Daniel and he began the arduous task of teleporting us a handful at a time back to Florida. Tyler had come along to take names and learn their issues while they waited to be transported. I remained in my seat. I wasn't trying to be dramatic, really. I was just having trouble dealing with myself.

Mollie sat down beside me. I looked over to see her brown doe eyes staring at me. "You okay?" I asked her, before she could interrogate me. "I mean…you were with Michael for a while. There was another level of trust to your relationship."

Mollie grimaced. "It's hard, yeah, but I'm dealing. How are _you_?"

I shrugged and looked out the window again. "I knew he was betraying us. Not at first but I knew."

"That's not what I meant." She continued giving me this knowing look.

"Oh you mean that whole thing where I killed people? Been there, done that," I sighed coldly.

Mollie shook her head. "It's not the same. You were in control of yourself then. You were fighting them of your own volition. And protecting others to boot. This was different. And please stop pretending like it didn't bother you. Even if I couldn't read emotions I can read your face."

I stared at the roof of the bus. She wasn't going to give up. "How do you think I feel? You're the empath."

"Yeah," Mollie chuckled. "But it isn't about me knowing. It's about you expressing, something you don't do enough of." I rolled my eyes and stared out the window again. "Mari, your powers are obviously closely tied to your emotions. If you bottle up and repress your emotions then you're like a walking time bomb. Have you even cried since you found out about Gia?"

"What are you saying?" I barked. "Are you saying I don't care about Gia d…being in a coma." I lost my edge a little after I almost slipped up and said Gia was dying.

Mollie furrowed her brow and held my face in her hands. "I'm saying that you need to let yourself feel. If you ever want to have any control over your powers."

I blinked a few times, slowly, then just sighed. "I feel tired." Mollie laughed a little then pulled me into a hug so my head was on her shoulder. She just softly rubbed my back, reminding me of my mom. It was nice. "I also sort of feel like…a mistake."

"A mistake?" Mollie asked, still holding me.

"Yeah. There isn't supposed to be a person with this much power, with a connection to each of the gods. I think my existence is a mistake."

"Well you're wrong," I heard a voice say. I lifted my head to see Connor and Daniel staring at me. Connor was the one who had spoken. "You're not what they expected, but you're not a mistake."

I stared. "What does that mean?"

Connor scoffed. "I'm a prophet, can you just trust me?"

I allowed myself to laugh a little. "I just want to understand my powers."

Daniel nodded. "And we want to help."

"We've been thinking about the powers you've displayed," Connor explained in answer to my questioning stare.

"You manipulated Astrid's emotions, a gift from Aphrodite," Mollie informed me. "While my powers are not that advanced I can help you hone that power so you don't unwittingly force a person to feel a way they don't want to."

"And the electricity is clearly from Set," Daniel added. "I don't know where any of my friends who were Set's followers are right now but I can find them and they'll help you. And the seismic manipulation is Namazu. My cousin Jesse is married to a follower of Namazu."

Mollie put her hand on mine. "We're going to help you, Mari. You're not alone in this."

I thought for a moment. "There is something you guys can do to help me." The three stared at me, their faces showing that they were more than willing to do whatever I needed them to. "Daydream told me about a vision she had in which I lost control of my powers. I tore apart the heavens and…destroyed the world." I stared down at my feet. "I can't let that happen. I'm going to work hard to control my powers but…if I can't, if I start to lose it…" I looked up with tears in my eyes.

Mollie stared, aghast. "Mari, no."

Connor looked between Mollie and Daniel. "What? What is it?"

"She wants us to kill her," Daniel replied quietly.

Connor's eyes widened as he looked at me. "Why would we ever do that? No! You've done so much for me, for everyone—"

"Then you should know that that's why I would want you to kill me," I sighed. He stared at me like I was speaking another language. "Back in the chapel…that loss of control and burst of power. And that was only a little taste of what's inside of me. I couldn't allow that to get loose."

"Mari," Daniel finally said. "As noble as that is…even if we were willing, I don't know that we could kill you."

"Sure," a voice sighed from the front of the bus. Daniel and Connor parted and we saw Tyler heading toward us. "The four of us could. With the strength of our four gods we could do it. And if I was involved the vamps might take it better. Be more willing to listen. To understand." His grey eyes almost seemed to probe me. "If this is what you want."

I nodded. "I haven't given up yet. I'm going to try but…I'd like to have a failsafe."

Daniel shrugged. "Then I guess I promise."

"Me too," Tyler added.

"And me," Mollie managed to croak.

I looked to Connor. I'd never seen him cry before. He fell to his knees in front of me and stared into my eyes. "I can't imagine the world without you. Don't make me do it…but I promise too."

I sighed, my body aching to cry. But I couldn't. Not just yet. Still, it was a relief to know I had four people I could count on to get rid of possibly the biggest threat of all; me.

**_*Okay...kinda heavy. I can't help but feel like the story was lighter when they were being hunted. Sheesh. Alright, thanks for reading. If you have any reactions or suggestions or whatever feel free to review. I always love hearing from you guys who actually read this still. :D *_**


	27. Plans

**_*AUGH! I'm sorry. I got busy again. No excuse! Alright, another one of those vignettes of which I am so fond. Enjoy.*_**

I stared up at the gradually appearing stars from the dock. It was a decent enough view. I mean, there was this sort of fog hovering that almost seemed green but there was very little in the way of light pollution aside from that pesky setting sun.

"Whatcha doin?" Erol asked, walking up to me.

I didn't turn to look at him. "Running a marathon."

Erol chuckled. "Right, ask a stupid question."

"Get a witty answer?" I finished.

"You're such a smarty," Erol teased, sitting next to me. "Wow, the stars are pretty…you know between the green…foggy stuff. What is that?"

I shrugged. "Swamp gas? It looks a little like smog."

He looked at the air, thoughtfully, for a moment. "Hmm, I suppose. So how are you doing?"

I glared at him. "The next person to ask me that gets a swift kick in the ass."

Erol smiled, completely unfazed. I had to love that about him. "We're kind of asking you that a lot, aren't we?"

"Just a bit."

He put his arm around me and I resisted the urge to lean into him for a moment. Of course I quickly gave in but I resisted for a moment. "You know we're all just worried about you right? After all you've been through."

"I know," I sighed. "That makes it worse. All of you seem to be worried for me instead of yourselves. Erol, I could destroy you at any given moment."

Erol laughed loudly. "Wow, dramatic much?" I rolled my eyes and turned away from him but he brought my face back to face his. His blue eyes were impossible to look away from. "You would never destroy us."

"How do you know?"

He shrugged. "I just do."

"That's stupid," I scoffed.

"That's love, baby," he chuckled. Why did he find this funny?

"You say tomato…"

Erol laughed and kissed me, like he thought that would erase the conversation from my mind. "Oh you nearly made me forget." He handed me a little box, wrapped in a page from one of his precious comic books. I furrowed my brow and gave him a questioning stare. "Your birthday present."

I shook my head. "It isn't my birthday."

Erol cocked a brow. "Did you change your birthday since last year?"

"No, today is—"

"October 11th."

I thought for a moment. "When the hell did October get here?" I sighed, taking my present.

"Eleven days ago," Erol replied, little smart ass. "Open it."

I took the paper off and opened the little box to find a medium sized, silver locket. There were swirly vines with flowers etched on the outside. I opened it to find two pictures. On one side was a picture of the original group. The picture had been taken by the elder Caltha on the day we found our base in California. She said it was a momentous occasion which we should remember. I choked up a little at the sight of Rosto's smile. On the other side was a picture of Erol, Gia and me we had taken in a photo booth when we'd passed through D.C. We didn't have anyone to save at that point so Gia and Erol had begged me to take a night off. We went with Daydream, Desmond and Connor to a movie and, while they were getting ice cream, the three of us decided to goof off in the photo booth. It was the one day in the last year in which I had been able to relax.

"Thank you," I whispered, feeling surprisingly choked up.

Erol flashed me his sweet, goofy smile. "Just a nice reminder of happy times. Did it work?"

I kissed his cheek. "Very much."

"Good, then look at that every time you start thinking horrible things. Think about how things are inexplicably your fault? Look at the locket. Think about destroying those you love? Look at the damn locket." He gave me a playful stern look. I couldn't help but laugh. "May this new year in your life have fewer moments in which you are hard on yourself." I forced myself to smile then looked back up at the stars. He meant well. "So what were you thinking about when I came out?"

"Nothing," I sighed, truthfully. "It was nice. Care to join me?"

Erol snuggled into me. "Wither thou goest, I shall go."

"You know that's from the Bible right?"

"Really?"

"Yep, the Book of Ruth."

* * *

><p>Daydream stirred a little in bed but refused to open her eyes. She wanted to be here a little while longer. She rolled over to cuddle her mate only to find that he was no longer there. Her eyes popped open, sleepily and irrationally expecting the worst. She saw her gorgeous love pulling some pants on. Fortunately, he was still without his shirt. She had idly considered burning all of his shirts sometimes so that he could never cover up his muscular body ever again. She wasn't into a lot of muscle but something about the definition of the muscles in his back and shoulders drove her crazy. And his abdominal muscles…and those arms…<p>

"What's with the clothes?" Daydream demanded, sitting up and letting the sheet fall to reveal her breasts in an effort to entice him back to bed.

Desmond grinned at the love of his life. She could be so unbelievably sexy sometimes. Most people only saw the sweet and lovely Daydream. Desmond was lucky enough to see the raw and wild Daydream. Her long, black hair slightly messed up from bed head falling down her shoulders. She was the epitome of seduction. "I'm feeling a little restless. I thought I'd get some exercises in before everyone else woke up."

Daydream grinned and crawled to the edge of the bed. "Well, I could take care of that restlessness you know. Just get out of those clothes and—"

Desmond laughed. "That's not really what I meant. I need a work out, darling." Daydream waggled her eyebrows. "Not that kind of work out."

"Oh fine," Daydream sighed with a pout. "It's just that we don't get a lot o time alone these days. I like it."

"I know me too." Desmond kissed his mate. "When we're done being persecuted I promise we will spend days at a time just sprawled out in bed. We'll have breakfast in bed and read and watch tv and be a cutesy couple. You know, in between your fits of passion."

Daydream giggled. "_My_ fits of passion?"

"Alright, maybe I'm a little at fault too."

Daydream stared down at the comforter on their bed. "Besides, I don't really think we're ever going to be done."

Desmond furrowed his brow, his Mark crinkling a bit. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…things just keep coming. And, with Mari, they always will."

Desmond sat next to Daydream. "Love, are you saying you don't want to be with Mari anymore?"

"No," Daydream sighed. "But I can't help but wonder…"

* * *

><p>Astrid walked into the kitchen to find Mollie putting a tea kettle on the stove. "What are you doing up?" Mollie asked, over the ticking of the pilot light and the woof when the fire lit.<p>

"I could ask you the same thing," Astrid sighed, sleepily hopping up onto the counter beside the stove.

"Well the thing of it is I never went to sleep."

Astrid cocked an eyebrow and started to wonder if Mollie should be allowed around fire right now. "Why the hell did you do that?"

Mollie sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "Too much nervous energy in this house right now. And I'm feeling all of it. It kind of sucks to be empathic sometimes."

"Yeah, sorry. Some of that's mine." Mollie gave her a pointed stare. "Not because of Vanessa, you nosey-body."

Mollie rolled her eyes. "Hello? Follower of Aphrodite here."

"That excuse only goes so far," Astrid laughed. "No, I'm just…I know we haven't been still long but I'm getting restless. Gimme something to do and I'll do it. Leave me to my own devices and I go a little crazy."

Mollie nodded then proceeded to grab two mugs and two tea bags. "I think Mari is still trying to figure that out. Whether she likes it or not, we all are following her lead in this."

Astrid scoffed. She knew how Mari felt. Mari wanted this whole thing to be like a council. She wanted them all to decide what they did and how they did it. Astrid could respect that since she loved giving her own input. But she also felt the need to follow Mari. She'd never been a follower in her life so she felt sadly useless right now. "Where do we go from here? Do we go after that asshole, Damien? What?"

"I don't know. And Mari doesn't know. But we'll figure it out."

"I sure as shit hope so," Astrid sighed. There was a brief moment of silence in which the only thing they could hear was the water beginning to bubble a little. "So…does Vanessa have a thing for me?"

Mollie laughed loudly. "Like I would _tell_ you."

Astrid glared, half teasingly. "What good is being your friend if you won't use your powers to help me?"

"But that's the fun of flirting. You get to find out if she likes you or not." Mollie grinned, looking too excited. "Uncertainty is one of the joys of love and life."

* * *

><p>Damien paced in his tent. He hadn't heard from his god since his encounter with Mari. He was beginning to feel lost without guidance. But perhaps that was the point. Wouldn't that just figure?<p>

The sound of someone stomping up to his tent caused the leader to derail his train of thought. He glanced over to see his inside man staring at him. Part of his face was burned and the rest of it was scowling at him. "Ah, Michael, nice to see you."

Michael's eyes widened. "Nice to see you?" he demanded. "Those people almost killed me, they killed your little minions, and all you have to say is 'nice to see you'? Really?"

Damien cocked a brow. "Are we beyond pleasantries? I thought you Brits liked that stuff."

"You left me to be killed!"

Damien shrugged calmly and began pouring some hot water into a cup with a tea bag for his guest. "I wasn't worried. I knew she couldn't kill you. Spy or no. Mari has her loyalties."

Michael laughed, maniacally. "I didn't survive because of her loyalties. I survived because her friends didn't want my death on her conscience. Even then that dyke, Astrid, knocked me out. I would have been burned alive if not for the grace of Odin."

"Hey! Language!" Damien scolded, leaving the tea to steep. "It's the end of humanity, not the end of courtesy. Besides, I knew you'd be fine. Your god looks out for you and mine for me. So are you going to repay Odin or sulk some more?"

Michael seethed for a moment before he noted a certain tone in Damien's voice. "You have a plan?"

Damien chuckled. "When _don't_ I have a plan?"

**_*Whoa...what's going on? Confused? Well you won't be, on the next episode of Soap! (ugh. shut up brain! SHUDDUP!) Anyway, sorry it's one of my cryptic updates. Also sorry it took forever. The next one will be more forthcoming, I swears! ;) *_**

**_**Also, did you get the significance of Mari's birthday? Libra? Get it? Get it? Nope? Alright, no worries. :P**  
><em>**


	28. Breaking News

_***Brief but to the point.***_

"Remember to breathe, Mari. You're not breathing," Mollie sighed.

"I am so!" I groaned. "If I wasn't breathing I would have passed out."

Mollie had decided that the first part of mastering my powers was mastering my emotions and we would do that through meditation and yoga. Unfortunately, I was crap at both. Meditation was impossible because I became aware of every itch on my body and every noise around me. Yoga was alright at certain times. I liked the basic stretches. But she currently had me doing something called Sun Salutation which involved moving through a bunch of poses and trying to maintain a breathing pattern. This was…difficult to say the least.

"Concentrate on your breathing," Mollie ordered calmly, as she did the same thing as me but gracefully and serenely. "Breathe in through this motion." She paused to breathe. "Then out through this motion." She blew out like she was blowing a delicate bubble out whereas I blew out and sounded a little like a horse.

I fell backward and sat on the ground. "I can't do this. It isn't working. I'm broken." I scowled, like a pouty child. I was being immature, I'll admit, and I didn't care.

Mollie finished going through the last few motions then smiled down at me. She looked radiant. It was awful. I was sweating like a pig and she was…glistening. My brown ponytail had fallen to the side and much of the hair had spilled out while her blonde ponytail was still tight with a few stylish strays. My shirt had pit stains and her clothes looked fresh and clean. It was totally unfair having someone so gorgeous as a yoga partner. She made me feel hideous. "You're not broken," she giggled. "You're just not used to focusing on your breathing. It's only been a few days. You'll get it." She offered me her hand and I allowed her to help me up. "Alright, let's try…warrior position two."

I brightened a little. It was the only one I did well. I grounded myself then slid one foot to the side, completely turned out and in a lunge. I pulled my ribs in, tucked my butt under and widened my shoulders before lightly bringing my arms up. I gazed softly past my finger tips and breathed. Erol had given me a way to do this. I chanted in my head "I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar," from the movie _Serenity_. It kept my gaze soft, my body sturdy and allowed my mind to flow. I don't know why but it did. I stared past my fingertips, thinking Wash's chant over and over, and began to feel my mind ease into a meditative trance.

"Mari!" Connor shouted.

"What?" I screamed. "You broke my damn concentration!"

Connor eyed me, confused. "Umm…okay. Sorry, but you've gotta see this."

I ran into the house to find everyone gathered around the tv watching the evening news. A woman stared very seriously into the camera. _"-no evidence has pointed toward a specific suspect but that has not stopped others from voicing their theories on who is behind the murder of so many former scientists."_

They cut to a scene in which the same reporter was sitting next to a larger, nervous looking man. The text beneath him labeled him as Dr. William Harris, former scientist. _"It has to be vamp supporters who are upset by the travesties done to so many innocent vampyres and humans. I mean, can you blame them? The things they went through…"_

"_So, you believe your fellow scientists may deserve what is happening to them?"_ the reporter asked, making the man look even more nervous.

"_I…I honestly couldn't say. Perhaps we do deserve it."_

They cut to an angry and uptight woman. Gabrielle Fineman, lawyer/activist. _"It is clearly some uptight conservatives who blame the scientists for the release of the vampyres. The republicans and Christians would have us repress those different from their belief of what normal is. It sickens me that this kind of violence and segregation is thriving in our country. Sickens me."_

They then cut to a shot of Sergeant Dale McQueen, the sergeant we'd had problems with back in Georgia, standing next to Detective Monica Handler. _"It was vampyres, pure and simple,"_ the sergeant sighed. _"They're a big criminal nuisance, if nothing else. It was only a matter of time before the blood suckers sought out revenge. They're not like us. Unstable. And they don't really value human life. They drink blood. Case in point."_

Monica rolled her eyes. _"That isn't how they are and you know it!"_

"_Do you have an opinion on who did this?"_ the reporter asked, as the camera man shifted focus to only her.

"_I…no, I don't have an opinion. I don't know if it was vampyres or humans. It could have been anybody with any kind of agenda. Profiling will not help us catch the actual killer, or killers. It will just lead to witch hunts which never end well. I mean, for all we know the gov…"_ Monica paused, wide eyed. She was suddenly aware that she was on television and became not only nervous but aware of the accusation she was about to voice and its repercussions. _"It…it could be anyone. We won't know until we find actual evidence and not just…fear of what we don't understand."_

They returned to the news room to a shot of the reporter. _"Of course, police and federal agents across the nation are looking into leads but, as of yet, have come up dry. The only consolation is that many scientists, previously reported as missing, have been in contact with their loved ones and the agents assigned to relocate them. They all say they are fine and have sought refuge with an unnamed pro-vampyre rights group."_

All of us turned to the sullen scientists who had made their opinions of us known. "Well, it's true. We're here of our own accord. You guys haven't done anything wrong," one of the woman said, begrudgingly.

I shook my head at the tv. This was completely unfair. Some random guys, completely unaffiliated with vampyres, were going around killing scientists and vamps were still getting blamed. This was bad. Very, very bad.


	29. Dance With Me!

We all sat around the television for a while. It was obvious that we wanted to talk about our next move, how we were going to counteract this really bad press. How we were going to figure out Damien's motives and next move. But we couldn't. We had no idea what to do. Instead, after about twenty minutes of uselessness, we slowly dispersed. Some returned to treating the ill while others decided to train. Most, however, sought out comfort. Comfort in lovers, food, drink, books and some popped in _Young Frankenstein._

I retired to the dock with a few beers, in hopes of easing my tension so my thoughts could form in a less panicky manner. "You know," a familiar voice sighed, "it was a follower of mine who invented beer. Just saying. I mean he stole most of his ideas from a follower of Tepoztecatl but _he_ technically introduced it."

I turned to the Trickster. "You're really proud of that? Beer has a tendency to smell like piss."

The god shrugged with a smirk. "So what? No magically attacking me this time?"

"Depends, you going to give me crazy ass cryptic advice?"

"Mari, I'm a god, that's pretty much what we're good at. Have you even read the Bible? Or any religious scripture, take your pick."

I rolled my eyes then sighed. "I…I am sorry for my behavior back at the hospital I was—"

"Grieving," Trickster supplemented simply. "It's fine. Your temperament just intrigues me." He waggled his eyebrows and I couldn't help but laugh. He shared too many similarities with Erol.

"Alright. So if you don't want an apology or to give me cryptic advice…why are you here?"

The god sat down beside me and took one of my unopened beers, taking the top off with his thumb. It wasn't a screw off. I had used a church key to open the three I'd already downed. I rolled my eyes again. Gods can be such show offs. "To check on you and answer your questions. I do want you to succeed so I figured, hey, why not actually make sure you get what you need."

I squinted at Trickster as he stared up at the stars, sipping beer. "You'll actually answer my questions?"

Trickster grinned at me. "With nary a veiled response. Well…almost. I can't completely guarantee. I am still a god and the Trickster god no less. I have a reputation to uphold."

I cocked a brow. "I was under the impression most gods found you a nuisance."

"Alright, a reputation for being disliked but a reputation nonetheless."

I chuckled and took a sip of my beer. "Alright…obvious question: what the hell is this war thing about?"

Trickster sighed. "Why do you gotta start with the hard questions?" He took a deep breath. "You're not gonna like this but…why do you think it matters that the scales are balanced? Why do you think someone like you needed to exist?" I shrugged. I honestly hadn't thought too much on it. "Balance is needed because the gods plan to fight. This happens every once and a while. Every couple hundred years or so. It never makes it into the history books because it is magical and usually is attributed to natural occurrences. The Black Death for instance didn't kill nearly as many as you people think and it wasn't really new diseases being introduced that killed so many Native Americans when Europeans came to the New World."

I shook my head. "What are you talking about? The gods fight? How does that hurt humans?"

The Trickster gave me a knowing look as though he expected me to figure it out on my own. When I continued to stare he cocked his brow then chuckled lightly. "Okay, guess I'm gonna have to spell it out." He thought for a moment. "Why do you think humans are blessed by gods?"

Understanding overtook me. "Oh! We're pawns!"

Trickster tapped my nose. "On the nosey." I smacked his hand away. "So…the normal followers are the pawns. The more obviously blessed ones are kind of like the rooks. Slightly more powerful blessed ones are the knights. Bishops are obviously the skilled priests and priestesses. Then there are the queens, people like you and Damien, who are ultimately powerful and important. And, of course, there are the kings. They are important and are meant to be protected. They can be powerful but are by no means the power hitters."

I nodded. "Alright so…then your king…I mean…can I drop the chess metaphor? Because that's a game I never really got the hang of." Trickster laughed at me and rolled his eyes. "Sarvajna," I sighed. "She's important to you." Trickster nodded. "Care to share the why with me?"

"Not just yet."

I scoffed. Of course not. "Alright so…this war is coming. How are humans made aware of it?"

Trickster shrugged a little and took another swig of beer. "You guys can just sort of sense it. I honestly blame humans sensing the danger for why vampyres were hunted down. Some of the people must be unwittingly blessed and got antsy."

I nodded. This made sense, as far as I could gather. "I don't suppose a how, when, where and why could factor into this explanation of your godly war."

"My war? Oh no. I don't bother putting my followers at risk for something so stupid. Mine are there to pick up the pieces and cover things up. I'm a crow, a carrion bird. We're not called upon to be warriors and, like you said, nobody likes or cares about me in the god realm." He pursed his lips in thought. "Alright so, there's never a set when or where but the why should be painfully obvious."

I thought for a moment. "Power?" He gave me an obvious nod. "But what power can there be to be sought out? I mean, you guys are all pretty damn powerful and you try to make it even for one another."

"We're not all equivalent. Are you kidding?" He laughed like I had told a hysterical joke. "I mean, seriously. There is something of a hierarchy, of which I am not a part I proudly admit." He grinned. "No, let's see, for a while Amun was the top dog then there was Odin. Hera, oh that was an era from hell. But it's more or less like…a competition."

My eyes widened. "Wait, a competition with human lives?"

Trickster shook his head. "Gods don't see it that way. You guys get reborn, Nyx and Osiris see to that. This bodily shell is seen as expendable to most gods."

I scoffed and contorted my face in disgust. "Seriously?" Trickster shrugged. "Alright, so you gods have this giant game of Risk with living game pieces in order to proclaim yourself king of the gods, yeah?"

Trickster thought for a moment. "Yep. More or less."

"Okay…and me?"

"People like you are…generally hoped to be the swing vote."

I sat up straight. "People like me? I'm not…I'm not the only one?"

Trickster laughed hysterically. "Are you kidding me? No? No, you're not. Okay, well no, you're not the first occurrence of a person being endowed with the power of all gods. Nor will you be the last, I'm pretty sure. But you people only come around once in a while. And when you come around—"

"The gods know that it's time for another contest," I completed. "Alright…one more question; Who does Damien belong to?"

"Kiyohime."

* * *

><p>"Okay I've got something," Sonja sighed, pushing her long black hair behind her shoulders. "Yeah, I told you I remembered this." Desmond, Daydream, Connor, Erol, Mollie, Daniel, David, Tyler, Jordan, Jason and I crowded around the computer. "Yep, okay. Kiyohime, commonly referred to as just Kiyo, was this beautiful girl who fell in love with this priest. He loved her too but eventually ended it, you know because he was a priest. So she continued to pursue him with a vengeance. Then her anger and vigilance caused her to change into a giant, fire breathing serpent."<p>

Jordan whistled. "Hell hath no fury like woman scorned." The other guys nodded while Sonja, Daydream, Mollie and I simply rolled our eyes.

"Right, but that's it. I mean, she didn't turn into a god or anything. My mom told me this story a dozen times when I was a girl," Sonja said with a shrug.

I stared at the screen. There was a pretty illustration of a sad looking Kiyohime, the lower half of her turning into a serpent. I reached over Sonja and grabbed the mouse, scrolling down. "What's that?" Erol asked, pointing at the bottom of the screen. It was a little symbol. A circle. But when I looked closer, nearly colliding heads with the others, I could see that it was a snake eating its tail.

"OH!" I shouted, startling the hell out of everyone else. "I know this symbol! It's…umm…the…David Boreanaz. Um, no. Aurora borealis? No…um…"

Desmond glanced from the screen back to me, as I jumped about trying to remember what it was called. "Ouroboros?"

I shrieked and pointed at him. "YES! That! Ouroboros! It is a symbol frequently found throughout the world from ancient times. Completely unrelated to one another but generally with the same meaning. It's a symbol of forced immortality. Common in alchemic symbols to represent what alchemy really is about."

"Which is using elements of something to create something else," Erol finished.

Jason furrowed his brow. "What the hell is alchemy?"

Everyone ignored him. "Okay," Sonja replied, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Kiyohime made herself into a serpent," I responded. Everyone stared at me. "Stick with me here. So other places this symbol shows up are Greece, described by Plato. Also, just after the Amarna period in Egypt, the symbol appeared in the Book of the Dead." Everyone stared at me. "The Amarna period was when Pharaoh Akhenaten tried to force monotheism on his people."

Daniel furrowed his brow. "Holy crap! Okay, add that to its appearance on both Aztec and Toltec temples. It represented Quezalcoatl, a serpent god who came to the people promising to return and then vanished."

"India, China, the Nordic regions, Africa, North America! The Ouroboros is all over the place!"

"Okay, okay," Desmond sighed. "But what does that have to do with Kiyohime? What is she the god of?"

I smiled. "Don't you get it? She isn't!" Everyone stared at me like I'd just given birth to a litter of kittens. "She is trying to be a god. And what better way than to win in a war of the gods? So she amasses followers and starts killing off the competition."

Jordan thought for a moment. "But, Coyote said that Damien was her…did he really call him a queen?"

I rolled my eyes. "It was part of a whole chess thing. But yeah, she's making herself a god. She's got to be able to endow powers of sorts as well." I started doing a little dance, excited that I'd finally figured something out.

"Alright," Mollie sighed, muffling a giggle, "but what can we do with this information?"

I stopped for a moment. "I have no idea, but we'll figure something out. Come _on_ you guys. Add this to our new knowledge about what the gods are up to and we aren't so deep in the dark anymore." I started dancing again.

"Erol, stop smiling," Jason ordered. "You're only encouraging her."

"But it's so cute," Erol chuckled. "She's doing the Snoopy dance."

"Join me!" I giggled. Everyone looked at one another. Only Erol and Daydream decided to join me.


	30. Blessed

I found Sarvajna on the widow's walk. She was sitting with her legs going down the slant of the roof and her chin on the lower part of the railing. She stared off into space. Unfortunately, the PCs were the only ones Paine and Lucy hadn't been able to fix yet. Although I wasn't entirely positive that Sarvajna could be "fixed". I had a feeling that this was part of being a key piece of the Trickster's collection of followers.

"Hey Sarvajna," I said in a singsong manner.

"Hey Mari," she replied, mocking my tone.

I pursed my lips and she turned back to grin at me. "Fine, I won't bother with the buttering up part. It's just that…I've been thinking—"

Sarvajna's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "That is a momentous occasion. Champagne all around."

I paused and gave the girl a playful glare. "So some of the meds Lucy has given you are helping?" I asked, sitting down beside her.

She shrugged. "Sometimes. Not often. Right now I'm enjoying a moment of lucidity."

"Oh, then…should I leave you to enjoy it?"

"No, stay. Sanity without someone to witness it is sort of meaningless." I thought on that for a moment but Sarvajna rolled her eyes and waved my thoughts away. "Speak!"

"Right," I chuckled. "Okay so…I was remembering how the first time I met the Trickster he had said that he enjoyed your personality. You know, before you were Bagged. So…what were you like? Who were you? What did you do?" Sarvajna gave me a hard stare. It was a difficult question, I know. You don't just tell somebody to tell you about themselves. They'll never know where to begin. "What was your name?"

She stared back out at the horizon. "You know that."

I shook my head. "Sarvajna is not your given name. It isn't your _real_ name."

She gave me a pained look then shrugged a little. "It's real enough." She leaned forward against the railing. "As for who I was…that was real enough too. I lived to learn. I made friends everywhere. I nearly fell in love…" she looked over at me again. "I raised raccoons. That was my favorite thing. They're my favorite animals you know."

I was losing her. "Okay, Sarvajna honey," I pressed. "Last week when I saw Trickster he told me you were his most important follower." She nodded knowingly. "So what did that entail?"

Sarvajna eyed me then glanced away. "Ima wa tokei janai desu."

I stared at her, unsure if she'd chosen to respond this way, in the hopes of derailing me, or if she had no control. "I don't understand Japanese," I sighed, frustrated by how often I had to say this.

"She said 'Now is not the time'," Sonja informed me from the staircase.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course she did." I turned to Sonja. "What's up?"

"Mollie sent me to come and get you. We found something kind of interesting."

* * *

><p>Sonja and I entered the "library", which consisted of a computer and a bookshelf containing mostly Danielle Steele novels, Mollie immediately began talking. "Okay, you mentioned the Black Death last week and about how people like you have been involved in those sorts of things, right?" I nodded, though it wasn't really a question. "Well that triggered a memory from my priestess training. I mean, I had last read the book when I was twelve but—"<p>

Sonja and I exchanged a glance. "Umm…what book Mollie?" I probed.

"Oh right." She brought up a pdf of what looked like pages of a very old book. Much of it was in Greek. "This is a volume of the historical records kept by priestesses of Aphrodite. I talked to a friend and she said that they had scanned the books into the computers back at the turn of this century. This book begins with Sappho's accounts and ends not long after the Black Death."

Sonja cocked a brow. "Sappho? The Greek poet who wrote mostly about female lovers?" Mollie and I stared at her. "What? Gia kept reading her stuff to Erol and me while we were on our first hunt for scientists and Coders. She loved…" She drifted off after her use of past tense, looking like she had just been stabbed. Gia was lovable, no matter how long a person knew her.

Mollie cleared her throat. "Um, yeah. That Sappho. She was a powerful follower of Aphrodite. Normally the tedious work of recording history goes to the lesser priestesses, like myself, but since Sappho had a way with words. Anyway, just before the Black Death struck, a man came to seek refuge with the priestesses of Aphrodite. He displayed much power but said he refused to use it. He said he wouldn't be a part of unwarranted violence. The priestess who recorded this said that the man could heal with his blood and a wave of his hands but he could also cause the earth to shake and open up to swallow someone whole. Sound like anyone we know?"

I nodded slowly. "So he was like me. Blessed by all gods."

"Yep. She called him a Kamunyak. A blessed one." She paused, allowing me to laugh a little. It figured I couldn't escape the nickname, even others like me were called it. "He claimed to have learned about several other Kamunyaks who had come before him. One was so far back that he had a hand in the great flood of ancient 'myth', like the one in the Noah's Arc story. Also the historian mentions Pompeii."

"Oh!" Sonja sighed. "That explains a lot!"

I looked between the two. "Pompeii?"

Sonja cocked a brow and gave me an incredulous look. "How can you know every occurrence of a snake eating its tail but you don't know about the ruins of Pompeii."

I stared at my feet. "My…my dad, the one who raised me, he was very interested in the Ouroboros. He was teaching me about it before I could talk, there was video to prove it. I actually…found it embarrassing when I was a preteen and he'd talk to my friends about it." I felt shame for my prepubescent behavior bloom in my chest. Mollie gave Sonja a pointed look and she looked properly regretful. "But I remember now. Pompeii. Mount Vesuvius, right?"

Mollie nodded. "Yes. Anyway, the man mentioned many different Kamunyaks during his time with the priestesses. But the main gist of it was that they had chosen sides. The woman who was blessed during the battle which led to the disaster of Pompeii chose to side with the goddess Hera, for example."

"But he refused to choose," I sighed, slowly catching on. "He was blessed and expected to _choose_ a side instead of get assigned one. But he didn't."

Mollie tapped her own nose. "Exactly. So when the aftermath of that war proceeded to wipe out half of Europe, the man couldn't help but feel partially responsible. So he took his healing powers to the people, passing himself off as a doctor. He was the savior of many." Mollie paused dramatically, giving me an appraising look. "The people he treated gave him the name of Bliant, meaning healer. And they gave him a last name which essentially meant Pagan because of his origin." She gave me a look as though I was supposed to guess the last name. I was never good with name origins. "They named him Bliant _Paine_." My jaw dropped.

"Now wait a minute," Sonja interrupted. "The name Paine is moderately common. It doesn't mean anything…I don't think."

I looked from Sonja to Mollie. "But it's very likely that the Paine line began with Bliant. So…there is a distinct possibility that a previous Kamunyak is your paternal ancestor." I furrowed my brow in thought for a moment. "Now, I'm not sure that it actually means anything. But it's interesting." I nodded, completely in agreement.

"Do you suppose daddy dearest knows about his ancestor?" Sonja asked.

Mollie shrugged. "Doubtful. I mean there weren't really birth and death records that far back except for baptism and burial records held by the church. And even then, most of the Catholic church refuses to release those records to the public."

I played with the coin I kept around my neck. "I don't care about that right now. But…" I trailed off staring into space.

"Mari?" Mollie asked, sharing a concerned look with Sonja.

I cleared my throat. "Sorry. Did the historian list other Kamunyaks he spoke of?"

Mollie nodded. "Yeah, I just haven't translated those sections yet. Why?"

"Could you translate them? It may be nothing but…I think learning about the other ones might help."


	31. Day In the Life

"Family history?" Paine asked, handing out the medications to his helpers who were to treat the patients. "Since when do you care about your genealogy? Don't get me wrong, I like the interest but I thought you were content to know who you are and what you've done."

I rolled my eyes. Figured. The one time I ask him to connect with me on more than just a biological level and he clams up on me. "Look I just…can you answer me or not? How far back can you trace _your_ family?"

Paine stared at me, pursing his lips from side to side. "Well, I know we came over when America was first being colonized. In fact, I have an ancestor who was in Massachusetts in the 1600s whose name was Edward Paine." He grinned as though I would find this interesting. "Anyway, there were Paines as far back as the Battle of Normandy." I felt a little relief since the Black Death was in the 1300s and the Battle of Normandy was about three hundred years prior. "But we don't come from those Paines."

_Of course not,_ I thought. "Then…where did our-your Paine family come from?"

Paine shrugged. "Seemingly from nowhere after the Black Death. Legend has it our ancestor was the only doctor to save patients in his area. Most others just gave them bogus remedies like surrounding them with the color red. But not Bliant." My shoulders slumped. "Seems like being a man of science runs in our family."

I scoffed. "That's not the only thing."

* * *

><p>Jordan and Erol stared at me when I finished informing them of my genealogy. "I mean, it may have nothing to do with anything but—"<p>

"But it may have everything to do with everything," Jordan completed, laughing wildly. "Goddess, Mari this is so ironic I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is."

Erol cocked a single brow. "Ironic? How's that?"

"Haven't you ever talked to Mari about her biological family?"

"No," Erol scoffed. "Why would I ever do that? I want to live a long happy life."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh come on you guys."

"I have," Jordan continued, as though I wasn't even there. "She'd say 'Jordan, shut the hell up. Who you're related to doesn't define who you are. It's how you act and who you choose to make your family that defines you.' Seriously. Verbatim." I glared as he did some weird high pitched voice to mimic me. I did _not_ sound like that.

"You've got her voice down pat!" Erol laughed.

Jordan grinned. "Point being, if it turns out her biological ancestor does in fact define who she is then—"

Erol laughed. "Okay, I see the irony. Definitely more ironic than that song by Alanis Morissette, Ironic."

"Which is, ironically, lacking in any irony," Jordan added.

"Was that what made it ironic?"

"Like on purpose? No I…" The two glanced over to see me walking away from them. I think I liked it better when they fought. "Mari, c'mon. Wait up," Jordan called out, laughing.

I scoffed. "No, no. This is all some big joke to you two. Laugh it up."

I could almost hear the two of them roll their eyes. "Mari, love, since when are you lacking for a sense of humor?" Erol asked.

I spun around and both of them screeched to a halt. "Since…since it's really hard to find anything to laugh about right now." I fidgeted, losing what little edge of anger I had. I knew I was being unreasonable.

Both Jordan and Erol smiled kindly at me. They each kissed my cheeks. "Mari," Jordan sighed, stooping a little to be at eye level with me. "You know that Gia would find this hilarious, right? Even if the situation were switched and Erol was in a coma. She of all people knows that the world doesn't stop turning." I bit my lip in thought and was silently grateful he'd used present tense. "I know that you feel responsible for her but—"

"MARI!" Jason voice rang out. I ran toward his voice and came to the top of the stairs. He looked up at me from the bottom, phone in hand. "It's my sister she…she was running with some vamps trying to save 'em from…"

I furrowed my brow. "Jason, talk to me."

"She's hurt…bad. Can I have Daniel…?"

I nodded, knowing exactly what he needed. "Daniel," I barked.

"On it!" he said, coming into my vision downstairs, pulling his second shoe on. He asked Jason's sister where she was then handed the phone back to a still and silent Jason. I rushed downstairs and gently touched Jason's shoulder. "Come back to me buddy. She's going to be fine. Daniel will be back in seconds and I'll give her my blood." Erol handed me my knife, meaning he'd already run to my bag on the third floor and run back. Jason nodded. He logically knew everything would be fine but it was his baby sister. He loved her more than anything in the world. Still, I didn't know how to comfort Jason. I'd never had to before. Luckily, Kimmy showed up and rushed to his side.

I stepped away and turned to find Mollie and Paine staring at me. "Will you need my help or something?" Paine asked, twitching nervously. He wanted something to do. I recognized it because I did the same thing.

I ignored the sting of realizing that perhaps my genetics did sort of make up who I was. "Umm, the others in her group may be hurt too. You'll probably need to treat them. But I've actually got Jason's sister…" I suddenly realized I didn't know his sister's name.

"Maddie," Jason whispered. "Her name's Maddie."

I nodded, having a hard time watching the strong, pig-headed vampyre I knew crumble. "Right, I've got Maddie covered. She'll be fine in no time."

As if on cue, Daniel popped into existence carrying a seriously injured vamp woman, who I could only assume was Maddie, and accompanied by several other men and women. He set her down on the couch nearby. The girl had been gutted like a catfish. It was not a pretty sight. I'm not particularly squeamish but it was a little too much for me to handle. I quickly dragged the knife across my skin until it drew blood then brought the girl's mouth to my wrist. She quickly latched on and began sucking on my wrist. I tried to distract myself from the natural pleasure by observing her Mark. It was lovely but easy enough to see that she had an affinity for water and could use it to see things.

Those who had never seen my blood at work before gasped when they saw Maddie's wounds healing. Maddie finally pulled away, gasping. She put a cold hand to my cheek and stared into my eyes. "Thank you so much," she sighed before promptly passing out.

Jason ran to her side. "She's fine Jace," I sighed. I didn't normally shorten his name but that was all I could get out. His sister had taken a lot out of me. "Sometimes that happens remember?"

Jason nodded but his eyes remained worried. "Alright," Pained said, in an authoritative manner. "Are any of the rest of you injured?" They all groaned implying that they were. "Very well, come upstairs to my clinic. Jason, please bring your sister. I'd like to keep an eye on her." Jason carefully scooped Maddie up and followed orders, something I was not used to seeing him do.

I watched everyone go then allowed myself to collapse on the couch. I opened my eyes to see Mollie staring at me. "What? That's the same look you and Michael gave me when you saw me heal Abby."

She shook her head. "Sorry I just…I never knew."

"Never knew what?" I asked, lazily.

"How good it felt." I gave her a funny look. "Your blood is…it's the most intoxicating thing ever. Do you know how much pleasure they derive from it?" I started to explain Nyx's gift. "No, I know that. And I know you get pleasure when you feed them. But you don't get half the pleasure they get. It's the purest form of ecstasy. The closest to nirvana one can get." I cocked a brow. "Mari, let's put it this way. If I could, I would drink your blood at least once a day. It's sensational. Sorry, that's a bit creepy."

I laughed. "Eh, you get used to talk like that when you're around vamps long enough."

Mollie giggled then sat next to me. "Weird day for you, huh?"

"How's that?"

Mollie shrugged. "Learn some strange things about your origin, save a dying vamp then hear some creepy talk about your blood."

"Nah, that's a normal day in the life of Mari. In fact, it's the most normal day I've had in a while."


	32. Michael

***Okay it is much later than I meant for it to be but I'm actually kind of glad. I had a completely different chapter planned but I kind of like this one better. I'll post the other chapter soon. This is a nice chance to catch up with Michael the traitor and learn more about Odin and Kiyohime. ENJOY***

Michael sat on his cot, his face still in a great deal of pain. It was sheer luck he had woken up before either suffocating or burning to death. Sheer. Dumb. Luck. He couldn't believe they'd left him for dead. Well, he could believe it of Astrid and kind of Erol. But Mari? Mollie and Daydream? They had seemed like—

Well, he didn't care. They'd been a mission and he'd completed it. He didn't care about them any more than they cared about him. Of course, he would have loved to have figured out Mari and her brain. Hell, he kind of wanted to see if Astrid would ever figure out that Vanessa wanted her equally. But it was simply a matter of curiosity. He didn't care about any of those pathetic wannabe rebels. He was of a higher caliber.

He tore the bandaging from his hands and threw them across the room. If he didn't care why couldn't he get them out of his head? Bloody Stockholm syndrome is what it was. He'd bonded purely based on his survival instincts. "What do I care about their sodding group? Say they're all righteous then the blighters leave me to die!"

"_Lost in thought I see,"_ a deep voice chuckled from behind him. He spun around to see a mountain of a man with reddish hair and a matching beard, both remarkably well kept considering he lorded over the Vikings.

Michael fell to one knee. "Odin, I didn't notice you. I'm sorry."

The god waved a large paw-like hand. _"Never mind that. You didn't notice me because I didn't want you to. It matters not."_ Michael nodded obediently. _"You have done so well my warrior. I mean, I would have preferred it if you had nudged Mari in my direction rather than allowing her to fly blind but there's time enough to get her on my side. The game isn't for another year or so."_

Michael hesitated for a moment before he sighed, "Odin I…I don't wish to overstep my bounds but why are you helping this Kiyohime? She isn't a god yet and, if she is, she will only be a rival."

The old god's colorless eyes fell on his follower and he tsked. _"Michael, we gods do help one another. It isn't simply rivalries. Some of us are rivals, this is true. But we coexist. Kiyohime she…longs to be one of us. There's nothing wrong with that."_

"But as a goddess of chaos? I mean, don't you all already have one?"

Odin shrugged, examining a notebook in which Michael had kept notes about Mari and her companions. _"No. There are gods you mortals attribute to chaos but none of chaos as yet. She would also be the goddess of transition. This could go well for her in this day and age. How many would pray to her when in the middle of gender reassignment or even simply when moving from one thing to another. She would be perfect. Bring attention back to the gods. We are so forgotten. She could remind them, make us relevant again. I find the prospect titillating."_

"Then why help Mari?" Michael asked, earning a stare from Odin. "I mean, you warned her about…everything through Connor. You told her about Damien killing the scientists she'd need.*"

The god nodded knowingly. _"It was, in part, a test for Mari. To see how long it took her to figure it out. You seemed to encourage her to deconstruct my message."_ Michael stuttered. What was he supposed to say? _"You think things through, I like that. It's why you're my most powerful piece."_

Michael hated when his god referred to humans as game pieces but he understood. In comparison they were nothing but it still irked Michael a little. He couldn't be like his god; separate the ends from the means. Humans, even if they were vampyres, were being killed. "So how did Mari do on this test?"

"_Better than I imagined. I was under the impression that she was little more than an idiot. But the fact that she could sniff you out was amazing. Up against _you_ she was able to figure it out and you're my most powerful piece," _he repeated.

Michael tried not to let his ego swell as Odin continued complimenting his powers. "I still don't understand the 'taming you' part of that whole thing."

"_She will,"_ Odin sighed. _"Her friends are already trying to tame her wild nature. And what a nature it is. Thanks to her nature and Kiyohime's plans I will be the reigning god and I will make Kiyohime a true goddess"_

Michael shook his head. "But why help her? Why risk so much for one wannabe?"

"_I am risking nothing,"_ Odin laughed. _"She will be indebted to me. This will only work out in my favor."_ Michael began to object. _"Trust me, it will. If nothing else, I have Mari right where I want her. And Kiyohime, even in her current state, is a powerful ally to have."_

Michael shrugged and began re-bandaging his hands, realizing how much it hurt to have his burnt skin exposed. "Still, a goddess of chaos? I can't see her being helpful."

"_You humans. No matter how intelligent you are you always seem to associate chaos with bad things. Chaos is a raw force. It has neither good nor evil purposes though it can have either kind of outcome. As Nyx is so fond of saying, there is no give without a little take in this universe. Without heartbreak you never understand the thrill of love. Without death you'll never be able to value life. Without chaos you could never know what order was."_ Michael stared in awe. Sometimes this god, who had been worshipped by the rabid Vikings, could be unusually eloquent. _"For instance, you were falling for Mari weren't you?"_

"What?" Michael gasped. "No!"

"_You were, and now you're frustrated by the sting of losing a place at her side. Although you can look back at the time you fought beside her and have fond memories."_

"I never had feelings of that sort for Mari or anyone else in her group," Michael claimed. "I knew I was betraying them."

"_The fact that you see it as betrayal means you felt for them. Besides, Mari is blessed by Aphrodite and, historically speaking, Aphrodite's followers get along very well with Odinites."_

Michael furrowed his brow. "But Mollie and I always fought. Same with Mari."

"_I didn't mean agreeing with one another. When you fight it tends to make for more passionate lovemaking. Don't you think?"_

Michael stared at Odin as the god sat with his hands clasped behind his head and a lecherous smile on his face. Michael laughed. "No offence but sometimes you are really awkward to talk to." Odin grinned at his follower.

*refers to vision in chapter 13. Revisit it. It might help.


	33. Ghosts From The Past

_***In memory of the amazing author Ray Bradbury who actually inspired me to write when I was a little bitty person. I hope all of you have the opportunity to read something of his. The man was amazing. RIP***_

"Okay here's a really early one," Sonja sighed, exhausted. She, along with Mollie, Daydream, Connor and I, had been up for over twenty-four hours reading through the Aphrodite Chronicles as well as the same kind of historical recordings from followers of other gods. Daniel, with his teleportation and numerous contacts, was a very helpful man to have around. "This priest of Poseidon says that the Odenites, so we'd know them as Vikings, claimed to go to the edge of the world where they found a dark skinned woman who possessed great power."

Connor's eyes widened. "Around 1000 CE?" Sonja nodded. "So when the Vikings came to America! That's why they came?"

Sonja nodded, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "So it seems. Anyway, the priest was able to speak alone with her, although the language barrier was a biggie. He tried to convince her to choose Poseidon and…wow, he's very detailed in his description of his seduction. And the sex. Goodness!" She blushed a little then cleared her throat. "Anyway, this seemed to only confuse the girl so, despite Odin's claim over her, she wasn't entirely sure who to fight. This resulted in only a moderate war. And that was how history passed it off. Just a war between empires. Odin, of course, won that time and the girl ran off, never to be seen again. But man did the priest receive a beating from the Viking who had fallen in love with the girl."

"I have one too," Daydream piped in. "Priest of Set writes about a man who sided with Set, because he'd been raised by the priests of Set. He ended up triggering some volcanic activity and…oh, Pompeii. Anyway, Set won that battle."

I sighed. "And here we have a man who chose to side with Poseidon. He took out a great island empire. Any guesses on the empire's name?"

"Atlantis," everyone replied.

"And who do you suppose won?"

"Poseidon."

Connor held up his book. "According to this priestess of Mama Quilla, who by the way is one of the goddesses who does not participate in the battle, in 1692 the blessed one was a young woman. A slave in the Caribbean. She was recruited by followers of Chernobog. Basically, they aren't the kindest of followers. So the woman felt she'd gone from one form of enslavement to another. She ended up killing most of the Chernobog followers. She was reportedly approached by Hera who told her she would gain ultimate freedom if she sided with Hera's followers. So she did, which led to the cataclysmic earthquake that took out Port Royal. Unfortunately, the woman ended up dying during the battle."

"But Hera's followers won out?" I guessed.

Connor nodded. "I guess we've sensed a pattern here."

"Yeah," I scoffed, tossing my book to the side. "I decide on a side and every other side gets slaughtered. Bully for me."

Mollie shook her head. "There has to be a way around this."

"There is, I can be like the original Paine and hide out until it's over. Such a good plan, right?"

Connor laughed. "Yeah, cowardice doesn't sound like a very Mari plan."

Daydream growled and slammed her book shut. "That's it. No more. I can't stand looking through these things for another minute. We need to sleep. And eat. And sleep."

"You said sleep already," Sonja sighed, groggily.

"I did? Well I need to sleep."

I nodded, standing up. "We are pretty much useless at this point. Turn in. We can rest and eat."

Everyone piled out of the room, grumbling their good nights. Mollie eyed me. "You're…you're not going to sleep are you?" I shrugged. Mollie shook her head and kissed my cheek. "You're hopeless." I watched her walk away, reminded once more of my mother.

I walked down to the kitchen to find Erol stuffing his face full of Funyuns while Jordan and Jason played Battleship. "Hey, she lives," Erol cried, mouth full.

"Mrmml!" I grumbled back.

Jordan laughed. "Tired Mari. We haven't seen you since your sleepless days in the California safe house."

"Yeah, I haven't seen her in longer," a voice said. I turned to see a familiar blonde vampyre staring at me.

"Chelsea?" She glared. "Oh, I mean 'Evangelique'. Hi, it's…been a while." I turned to the three guys, although only Jordan and Erol seemed interested. "Evangelique was in the hideout I was in before going to Tennessee." Jordan and Erol nodded in understanding. "Evangelique this is—"

She waved away my introductions. "Yeah, I've heard about them. Your lover and exlover. Gee, how long did it take you to forget Colin?" I fidgeted. Evangelique turned to the guys. "Yeah, she caught the eye of Colin. Never mind that I was a vampyre and I was in training to be a priestess. He chose the runaway human who got him killed." I swallowed my comments and stared down at my feet. Jordan and Erol however stared at her in horror. "Then she goes off and immediately goes after you two. How long was it after Colin died?"

"Almost a year," Jordan growled. "And we connected because I'd lost my girlfriend around the same time."

"Mmhm," Evangelique scoffed. "And yet I'm still grieving him. Does that seem right to you? I've still been running. I haven't been able to have a single moment of relief. And yet you've had two boyfriends, steady hideouts and some strangely acquired fame."

"Oh for the love of—shut the hell up Chelsea!" Jason finally burst, surprising all of us.

The woman's face turned red. "That's Evange—"

"I knew you before it was Evangelique and I knew you when you changed it at our house of night! You're just Chelsea. And you're just a bitch." Chelsea's eyes widened. "I'm sorry you can't get over the death of one guy, I really am, but Mari has faced more loss than you can imagine. She's led armies and lost many soldiers and friends. But you know the best part? She was able to continue forward to connect with and help people. So get off your high horse this minute. And get out of my kitchen, NOW!"

She glanced over at me before giving Jason a fearful look and taking off. Jason sat back down and took a sip of his coffee. "Wow," Erol sighed. "Jason that was…wow."

"Did you just stand up for Mari?" Jordan asked, somewhat amused.

Jason locked eyes with me. "Why did I have to? Why didn't you stand up for yourself?"

I shrugged. "I kind of deserved it I guess. I mean, she's still grieving him and then she sees me, the girl who was supposed to love him, just living my life."

Jason scoffed. "Mari, running around the country fighting and saving people isn't 'just living life'."

"Besides," Jordan added, "you kept having nightmares about Colin for so long."

"She still does," Erol sighed. "She just added nightmares about Rosto and Lucas and Gia."

I looked down at my feet again. "Mari," Jason growled, pulling my gaze back to him. "I'm done with this. This martyr crap. Stop acting like you should be punished for everything. Realize that people need you and you can't help them if you're just sitting around acting like you are the worst person in the world. Over Gia getting hurt, over what's been happening to the Coders, over what your powers can do. It's dumb. And it's a waste of your energy." He looked over at Jordan. "E7?"

Jordan glanced over at me then back to his game. "Um, yeah. Direct hit."


	34. Haven't You Ever Wondered?

_***Sorry it's taken so long. I'm leaving the country tomorrow so I've been trying to get things done. Also note that after I've finished Blessed I'm **_**CONSIDERING_ doing another Mari story that's...definitely a bit lighter and focuses more on the vampyre community and less on Mari (since her destiny will be fulfilled? maybe...maybe not). But it will still be her and some of the vamps. But I will only do this if I get some feedback from you guys. Message me or comment or whatever. Lemme know. Even if it's to say "No...no...stop. These aren't interesting anymore. Please...you lost me after the first Half of Bagged." I'll respect that. Okay. Update. (Hopefully I'll have time to update while I'm gone otherwise I'll see you all in July!)*_**

Over the next few weeks I was approached by several dozen representatives of several different gods. They attempted to woo me. Not literally (although a few did literally try to woo me and were promptly kicked out on their asses by Erol) but they tried to pull me toward their gods. They made some…interesting arguments. A priest of Poseidon actually told me that, in the new world following the cataclysm of war, Poseidon would make sure I ruled as an empress. I'm sure this would have tempted some. However, I never _wanted_ power at all so this was a futile attempt on his part.

For three months this continued. For three months we concentrated on honing my emotions. For three months Gia lay in a coma. For three months Paine and Lucy continued trying to treat patients like Sarvajna with little in the way of results. For three months we heard nothing new about Kiyohime's followers, though the killing of the scientists was still being blamed on vampyre revolutionaries. Then one day I had a dream.

* * *

><p><em>I was sitting by the dock but I could tell I was sleeping. The coloring was off. Everything was blue and green tinted. I looked over to see a large, barrel-chested man walking up to me. He had so much reddish brown hair on both his head and face but it was well kempt. I had a feeling that if he let it rat up, even just a little, he'd look like a wild mountain man. He sat down next to me and stared at me with his colorless eyes.<em>

"_Who are you?" I asked, gazing back out to the water. I was trying to be aloof but I knew something was up. I didn't have these kind of dreams unless I was being visited by Nyx. Loki visited me in my dreams but in confusing dream form._

"_Who do you think I am?" he asked with a laugh._

_I looked him up and down. "Well, obviously a god. I mean, the eyes alone suggest that much." I paused. "Which means you're here to talk to me about that stupid competition you've got coming up. Am I wrong?"_

_His thick eyebrows arched. "No, you certainly are not. Although probably not for the same reason as you think."_

_I looked at him for a moment before my brain finally caught up with what I was seeing. "You're Odin!"_

_The god grinned. "In the flesh. Er, so to speak."_

"_You sent Michael to sabotage us," I growled, feeling anger rolling through my body in painful waves._

"_No, I sent Michael to help Damien who wanted him to sabotage you. Michael was sent by Loki, you know that." He spoke slowly to me like I was an irrational child who wanted candy. I wasn't. I was one pissed off chick._

"_Semantics," I sighed angrily, as I stood up and walked toward the house. I figured if I got to the room where I was sleeping I might be able to wake up._

"_I'm also the one who __**warned**__ you about Damien and his men." I stopped dead in my tracks. "Connor's vision? Remember? I also warned you that gods would seek to tame you, to contain your wild powers and use them for their side."_

_I turned around to look at Odin but he was still facing the water. "So you've come to warn me about something then?" Odin nodded and, though I only saw the back of his head, I could tell he was smiling. I rolled my eyes and returned to plop down next to the god. "About what?"_

"_You," he said softly. "Mari, you have to choose a side. You have to join. It's your purpose in life."_

_I scoffed. "Um, no. Why should I? Bliant Paine didn't. Maybe I want to uphold the family tradition."_

"_He didn't have a modicum of the power you have," Odin sighed. I stared at him. "Haven't you wondered what will happen if you don't use your powers? I mean, you can do all of the meditation you want and it won't change a thing. Hell, you don't fight and the battle will still happen. You'll be cause for destruction no matter what."_

_I blinked dumbly at him. "What do you mean?"_

_The god smiled grimly. "How about I show you?" He touched my cheek just as he did when he was possessing Connor._

* * *

><p>I ran into the kitchen where David, Tyler, Erol, Daniel, Connor, Mollie, Sonja, Daydream and Astrid were eating. "Kill me now!" I shouted.<p>

Everyone jumped a little then stared at me. I must have been a sight. I had just leapt from my bed and run downstairs. Sweat dampened my face, I could feel it in my hair and it made my shirt cling to me. "What's wrong sweety?" Daydream asked rushing to my side. But I didn't look at her. I looked at the four who had agreed to kill me.

Erol furrowed his brow. "What happened?"

"I had a vision given to me," I sighed, breathing jaggedly. "Now kill me. You guys said you would." Everyone who hadn't agreed to kill me looked around curiously while the other four stared at me, unsure of what to think.

"We agreed if we saw immediate danger," Tyler replied. "And I don't see any immediate danger. Do you three?" Connor, Mollie and Daniel shook their heads.

David stared at his brother. "You agreed to kill Mari?" he demanded, aghast.

"What happened in your vision? And since when do you have visions?" Astrid asked, ignoring the tension in the room.

"Odin came to me. He showed me…" I took a deep breath. "He showed me what will happen if I don't choose a side. I…kill all of you." I realized I'd wrapped my arms around myself and had begun rocking.

Daydream shook her head. "It's not going to happen. Sweety you're just exhausted and—"

"I burned you up," I shouted. "You and Erol and Desmond. Burned you up. Sonja, I peeled your skin off." Sonja visibly shrank away. "Mollie, you sat crying in a puddle of someone else's blood and I came along and opened the world up. It swallowed you whole. Everyone. Electrocuted, flayed, burned, chopped up, crushed…I kill you all. And you can't let me." Everyone went silent and still.

Tyler stood and walked over to me. His grey eyes had my eyes in a hold. I couldn't look away. "Mari, it isn't going to happen," he said quietly and deliberately. I shook my head. "Yes, I can know. Haven't you asked me before what my goddess given ability is? Well I'm telling you now."

**_*Gasp! What could it be?*_**


	35. Breaking Point

Tyler was Nyx's chosen one. Her king piece as it were. He told me about his abilities and though they were numerous they were also passive. He said that his position meant that he was supposed to look after me but I knew the opposite was true. I needed to look after him. The king pieces were important but ultimately weak. They were to be protected by the other pieces. That night, alone in my room, I realized how the gods' game was played. Just like chess. That was why they wanted—no, needed me. The Blessed One was to protect the king player at all costs or that god lost the game. It seemed so clear to me and I couldn't explain why.

* * *

><p>When Connor entered the room he saw Sonja jump a little, spilling her pills all over the couch. He rushed over to help her gather the medicine Paine had prescribed. "Wow," he chuckled nervously. "You're literally jumpy, eh?"<p>

Sonja glared and popped a few of the pills into her mouth, dry swallowing them. "And you're laughing about it. Which one of us is worse off here?" Connor finished picking up her medicine then handed the bottle to her, looking like a wounded puppy. "Sorry," she sighed, her face softening. "Just not myself right now."

Connor nodded though still looking a little hurt. "You have been a little out of sorts for a week or so."

"You mean since Mari told me how I'm going to die? Go figure."

Connor furrowed his brow. "It won't happen. Remember? Tyler said—"

Sonja waved the tired explanation away. Everyone was repeating this like it was a mantra. Yes Tyler had said it wouldn't happen and he could clearly see that death was nowhere near any of them in that room. Seeing death sounded scary, even if it was connected to Nyx. Still, this declaration didn't calm Sonja at all. "I know what Tyler said, thanks."

"I know it's unsettling but—"

Sonja laughed maniacally. "Unsettling? Connor, Mari said she was going to flay me. That is more than just unsettling."

"But why would Mari hurt you?" Connor demanded, getting a little angry. Sonja stared, shocked. "When has Mari done anything to make you fear her? Mari likes you. Mari has striven to take care of you. So that's why I was saying that I know it's unsettling but you need to move past it because Mari is falling apart."

Sonja cocked her head to the side. "Falling apart?"

"She can't deal with this. She stays locked away, she forces herself to meditate, she doesn't sleep, she's getting so thin from not eating…all she does is worry. And we've seen her worry before. This is…the worst I've ever seen her. It can't help her seeing people fear her. You're not the only one doing it."

He was right. Sonja had noticed people whispering. Mari tried to ignore it but she couldn't. Still, she hadn't thought anything was wrong with Mari until now. Now it seemed painfully clear. "How is that supposed to make me feel better? Knowing that she's losing it makes her killing everyone seem a little more likely."

"It isn't supposed to make you feel better. It's supposed to remind you that you're not the only one suffering."

"Neither is Mari!"

Connor shook his head. "No, but she is worrying about everyone else's suffering. Someone should think about hers." He started to walk away then paused. "You know, I had such a thing for you when we first got here. There was this strength to you. But now—"

They both turned as they heard the front door creak open. Sonja furrowed her brow and got to her feet. "Mari?"

* * *

><p>"Wow," Edward Paine sighed as Erol finished telling him everything about Mari since she arrived in the tunnels. If Mari knew Erol had been becoming friendly with her "sperm donor" (as she called him) she might not be too happy. Still, he liked Edward. There wasn't much to dislike about him, though he'd wait a long while before admitting that to Mari. "She's so much like her mother…erm, Cara. Cara was very strong and driven. Much more so than me. It's the stubbornness she gets from me."<p>

Erol shrugged. "And the overactive conscience." Edward cleared his throat and turned away, ignoring Erol's comment. "She's a strong woman," Erol chuckled. "Little too strong sometimes."

Edward stared, assessing the young man. "She's pushing you away lately?"

"Yeah, but I mean, she's pushing everyone away. She hardly talks to Daydream and they're like sisters. She'll let Mollie in but…only just barely." He stood as he spoke, mindlessly fiddling with some of the containers Edward kept around the examination room. If he kept busy, even falsely so, he could keep his anxious energy at bay.

Edward shook his head sadly. "Some people, people like Mari I suppose, think they've got to be alone in order to be strong. And with all she's been dealing with she has even more reason to think she needs to distance herself. I mean…imagine getting that vision yourself."

Erol shuddered at the thought. Since hearing about the vision he'd only once had a moment of worrying about his own death like everyone else. His first thought was about how distraught Mari was. His was devoted to Mari to a dysfunctional extent. He had been since he first saw her true colors. "I know. Mari has done this before. Just…"

"Just this time it's worse," Edward guessed.

"I'm worried, sir," Erol confessed, staring out the window facing the water. "Between her behavior and a warning I received from a comatose psychic I—" He stopped.

Edward got up to look out the window as well. Both men saw Mari outside. Nothing strange about that. And yet…

"Why is she stumbling like that?" Edward asked, his voice alarmed.

Without a word Erol flew down the stairs.

* * *

><p>Desmond sat with a book in his hands as his mate slumbered beside him. It would be a lie to say that he was reading the book. Hell, he didn't even know what book he was holding. He was too lost in thought. He was thinking about a conversation which continued to come up between Daydream and himself; What would they do if they stopped fighting? If they left Mari and Erol and all of the others and thought of themselves for a while. He had always been a family type of man, since he was thirteen. He wanted to settle down with his mate. Sure, vampyres couldn't conceive but they could have pets and maybe even take care of fledglings like they were their own. He had always had dreams of a house with a white picket fence and family running around, being loving and chaotic and a complete terror. Just the way family should be.<p>

But was that what Daydream wanted? He could never be sure. She was never really straight about things like that. Even when not having a vision she'd speak in riddles. It was something he loved about her but it made knowing what she wanted a little harder. At least he knew she wanted to be with him. Of this he was sure. The rest shouldn't matter.

But it did.

He didn't want to think selfish thoughts about abandoning everyone else but, at some point he had to. His and Daydream's lives were at stake too. He knew no one else would see it as selfish. Mari would push him to pursue what made him happy, she could be unrelentingly supportive at times, and Erol would want to give him helpful suggestions. Jason would pretend he just thought Desmond was a domesticated animal but he'd wish him all the best just the same. These were good people. That's why thinking of a life without fighting at their sides seemed wrong.

Daydream sat straight up, suddenly in a cold sweat, interrupting Desmond's thoughts. "Love?" Desmond asked soothingly. "What is it?"

"MARI!" Daydream screamed at the top of her lungs.

* * *

><p>I don't know how everyone got to me so quickly. I thought I'd been quiet, though to be fair I hadn't been thinking much. Something was just pulling me toward the water. Connor and Sonja caught up to me first followed quickly by a blurry with speed Erol. Daydream and Desmond came streaming in next followed by a huffing and puffing Paine. What did they think they could do?<p>

I walked toward the end of the dock. I think I was intent on drowning myself. I wasn't entirely positive. I was in that desperate and thoughtless state. Something drove me. Something not me.

"Mari, what the hell is going on?" Erol demanded, closing in on me.

"I think I'm going away," I said, though I wasn't sure why or what it meant.

"Please," Daydream begged, "stop!"

My best friend's voice was horrible. Pleading. "Couldn't if I tried Kongxiang." Kongxiang? Since when did I call her by her proper name? Who was I, Jordan?

Everyone was close behind me. I wasn't hard to catch. I wasn't running. But I had some place to be. When Erol grabbed my wrist I felt the sense coming back to me but it was too late. I'd reached my end point.

There was a whoosh and suddenly none of us were on the dock anymore. Everyone else and I were in a very bright valley. Painfully bright. And before us were mountains. No. Those weren't mountains. I heard Paine gasp but everyone else simply fell silent. We were before a panel of gods. At their feet was a writhing creature, half woman and half reptile. She looked like she could have been beautiful once but now…she was all anger.

"_Sorry for that,"_ Odin sighed, without any remorse in his voice. _"But you all just got in the way of our summons. Still, kudos for trying to save your friend."_ There was a low and derisive rumble of laughter from the mountain of gods before us.

"What do you want?" Erol demanded, pulling me toward him protectively. As if he could have stopped them from doing anything. They would kill him with a sigh. This thought terrified me so I gently pulled away.

"I'm here now," I said calmly. "Now what do you want? To tug at me some more? To play games with my emotions? The lives of those around me? What do you want?"

"_A simple choice,"_ Hera hissed, _"is all we ask of you. Make up your mind, or do you wish to be a coward like Bliant was? Mari, I thought you were above your genetic make-up."_ Wow, Hera knew which strings to pull. Under normal circumstances at least.

Set shook his strange animal head. _"Just look at your friends. They're terrified of you. Terrified of what you could do to them."_

"_**Can you blame them?"**_ the writhing creature asked me. _**"You've put them through so much already. Chasing after dead scientists, getting people you supposedly care for killed or put into a coma and now the fear of you killing them…"**_ She tsked, snaking her human head from side to side. _**"Those poor things."**_

"Shut the hell up Kiyohime!" Sonja screamed from behind me. "You're not even really a god!" The writhing creature looked ready to attack but a growl from Odin calmed her down. "Mari, don't listen to that thing. She's chaos embodied, remember? Please Mari—" Before Sonja could finish she was struck down by a bolt of lightning. Dead.

Everyone screamed running to her limp and slightly burned body. I stared for a moment then slowly turned back to the gods. Amun smirked at Set in appreciation then glanced at me. _"We are not to be trifled with. Remember that."_

Namazu's fishy face seemed to ripple with impatience. _"Choose child!"_

Something had switched in me. They weren't dealing with Mari anymore. They were dealing with the monster they had created. "Who do I choose?" I boomed. "I choose none of you! I choose that none of you get to exist anymore!"

The gods exchanged a glance as I felt energy building up inside of myself. _"You don't have that power, stupid," _Hera scoffed.

"You all need to stop insulting my intelligence!" I shouted, the earth rumbling as I did. Even the gods couldn't hide their surprise. "You think killing my friends will endear me toward you?" Fire erupted from my fingertips.

"_Yes!"_ Odin shouted, thinking on his feet. Ever the clever god. _"That is the power I warned you of. The power to kill everyone!"_

"Everyone, huh?" I asked with a cruel laugh. "Then let's start with you!" Lightning flew from me and into each of the gods as well as Kiyohime. "Hell, let's get all of you in on this." With only the blink of my eye more gods appeared, the ones who hadn't been out to torment me but the ones I knew played. Even if only to help their followers, they played. I brought out the Christian God and Hindu gods. Celtic gods and lost African gods. Everyone who played with human lives. Why shouldn't they suffer? "How does lightning feel to you? Mind you this is much more powerful than regular lightning but you're more powerful too aren't you?" They shrieked in return. "This is how it felt! When you struck Sonja down THIS IS HOW IT FELT!"

I unleashed. Not caring about anything other than this moment. I was tired of people dying. I was tired of these pricks being in control. Why should they be? After all, Odin told me how much power I had, didn't he?

"Mari, stop it!" Daydream ordered.

I shook my head. "They deserve it. They don't understand. Until now they couldn't die. Now they can understand what they've been doing for so many millennia!" I felt tears streaming down my face but was otherwise unaware I was crying.

"Maybe they do," Desmond called out, desperately. "But you can't be the one to do this. Please, don't lose yourself."

"Mari, I've seen this!" Daydream added. "If you do this, you'll die too!"

I nodded. "Good! Then I won't be a weapon anymore. I won't be a pawn. And you guys won't have to worry anymore. You'll be safe. You can go live normal lives. I won't be a problem anymore."

"Mari no!" I heard Paine scream. "You're better than this! You can't do this."

Erol grabbed my wrist. Only then did I realize I'd begun floating. I glanced down, though my powers continued to flow. His eyes were filled with tears. Erol wasn't allowed to cry. "Gia warned me about this. Said you'd try to put others ahead of yourself. But you can't. She said that it would be bad and not just in the she wanted you alive sort of way."

Gia…she was in a coma. She was dying because of these beings before me. I couldn't let this go. I turned my gaze back to the dying gods. They would die and I would die. The end of it all.

Then came Daydream's voice. "Mari, you're stronger than this. You have the power. You can stop this."

Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. Whether it was a prophetess thing or a coincidence, her words told me what I needed to do. What I was destined to do. "I have the power…I have all of the power." I stopped and turned to my friends, leaving the gods gasping in relief behind me. "And I have the power to get us out of here."

Using Tepoztecatl's reality bending abilities I took us back to the dock. Everyone stood, reeling from the experience, but I quickly moved to Sonja's body. Her eyes were frozen open and beginning to get the glaze of death. But it was okay. Because I had _all_ of the power. I could create destruction and death, yes, but I could also heal and create life. I kneeled beside Sonja and let my instincts take over. My power resided in my blood so I focused on my heartbeat. I listened to it and felt my pulse in every pressure point in my body, including my thumbs. I pressed my thumbs to Sonja's cooling throat and the middle of her chest then I breathed. I continued focusing on my pulse until I felt a second heartbeat beneath my hands. After a moment Sonja began choking, breathing in air.

Connor rushed to her side and she sat up, trying desperately to focus on me. I smiled and stood. Everyone stared at me, not sure what I would do next. Could I blame them? HELL NO! I'd just tried to kill a bunch of gods. How do you react when you see someone do that? But they needn't worry. I smiled.

"I know what I have to do."


	36. I've Chosen

**_*Don't forget to review occasionally. Let me know what you think.*_**

The next day, after allowing my body to get the rest and food it was being deprives of and making sure Sonja was alright, Daniel took me to the hospital. I could have done it myself but Daniel insisted. Mollie, Astrid, Erol, Desmond, Daydream, Kimmy and David also insisted on coming with me. Either to be there for me should I fail or to be there should I prevail. Either way, they were welcome. I walked into Gia's room, with its drab colors and terrible fluorescent lighting. I tried to control my breathing when my eyes landed on Gia. Her normally golden skin was so sickly. Of course, she'd been in a constant downward spiral for months now. She'd been brought back with a crash cart a few times lately. She was dying.

It was time.

I walked up to the side of Gia's bed, my heart in my throat. I knew I could do it, mostly, but I was still terrified of failing. This was my last hope. She didn't need her heart restarted like Sonja so I adjusted my hand placements. One remained in the center of her chest but I brought the other one up to her forehead. I closed my eyes and could see only the gray that was her energy at that moment. I breathed, putting all of my own energy forward until I saw a bit of yellow beginning to shine through. That was Gia. She was coming back. I continued pushing and pushing until there was no more gray. Only the bright, sunflower yellow of Gia's presence.

I opened my eyes to see Gia doing the same. Her eyes immediately found me. I smiled, my entire body bursting with excitement. "Hey," I chuckled, fighting back tears. Daniel quickly ran to get the doctor. "We missed you." Her eyebrows furrowed. She was confused but couldn't express anything with that damn tube down her throat.

"She doesn't understand why she isn't dead," Mollie informed us.

I smiled. "This is the off chance you saw, where you didn't die. Recovering from brain damage is probably why it looked so hazy." Gia's shoulders heaved as she gave what appeared to be a relieved sigh. Her eyes were welling with tears and she grabbed my hand. I stared down at her. "Don't you _ever_ do that to me again," I threatened jokingly. "Do you know what your drama put poor Erol through? Seeing you shot and all."

Pretty soon the doctors had removed all unneeded equipment from her body. They left her hooked up to the monitors out of fear that she'd relapse. As soon as we could, we explained all of the happenings since she'd been in her coma. She clearly knew a lot of it, what with being psychic and all, but she allowed us to tell her anyway. I think she was interested in how we viewed the situations more than what had actually happened. She was a little shocked by what happened with Michael and even more so by what had happened between the gods and me.

"All this to get you to choose a side?" Gia sighed, shaking her head. "That's insane."

David scoffed. "Yeah, you're telling us."

Kimmy wrapped her arms around herself, nervously. "Now what? I mean, they're not going to stop."

Daniel gave the priestess a wide-eyed stare. "You don't think Mari almost killing them will put them off a little?"

"Gods are relentless," Astrid answered before Kimmy could. "I mean, they risk lives to try and win this game of power. Why should anything stop them?"

Mollie nodded. "They're right, Mari. The gods are just going to keep coming after you, keep pushing you, in hopes that they'll finally make you desperate."

"And that means coming after people you love," Astrid added.

David sighed, running his fingers through his auburn hair. "They're not wrong Mari. If you don't choose a side they'll just make you pay."

I sat up straight and glanced at Desmond, Daydream, Erol and Gia. They knew. I don't know how, but they knew. "I've already chosen a side," I informed everyone. I looked over at Daydream who smiled tentatively. "It was what Daydream said when I was crazy with grief and anger. She said that I was stronger than this. That I had the power and could stop it. And she was right." I looked around at everyone else. They seemed to need a little more exposition. "I've chosen a side. I choose humans. The side of human kind. For too long we've been pawns. We've been weapons to be used by one god or another to take out another pawn owned by another god. And that's wrong. We should have some sort of say. We shouldn't just kill one another arbitrarily if we can help it."

There was a moment of awed silence. Well, either it was in awe or concern was really a tossup but I preferred to think it was in awe. "That's going to be really tough," Daniel warned me.

I smiled. "Yeah, I know. It will be really hard to get people to ignore the orders of their gods, even if it means saving their lives. I mean…you guys are all such strong people," I gestured to everyone in the room. "But I know you'd all listen to your god and goddesses without question."

Mollie pulled her shoulders back. I'd rubbed her pride the wrong way. "Hey, I would not."

"Really," I chuckled, tilting my head to the side. "So why did you follow the Trickster to find me?" Mollie opened her mouth to argue but snapped it closed again. I was right. But that didn't matter. "I know it's going to be hard…but I think it's worth it to try."

Desmond nodded, smiling proudly at me. "And I think it's worth it to try to help you."

"Ditto," Mollie and Astrid sighed in unison. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Erol shrugged. "Well, I'm going to help you but that's more of a sickness and less of a conscious decision."

I laughed at my sweet, funny boy. "Good. I mean, you guys can quit whenever you want. Because I—"

"Mari," Gia chuckled, coughing a little. Her body was unused to using this much energy having been dormant for many months. "I think they're committed to this idea."

"Good," I repeated in relief. "Good, because…I'm really going to need you guys."

_***Hey, if you guys want a story much lighter in terms of drama check out my story on fictionpress. I'm under the same username. It's a story about...well a bunch of fantasy type beings but staring a werewolf. I dunno. I like it and I'm kind of excited about the story I've got brewing for it.***_


	37. The Shadow People At the Round Table

_***A quick...well not disclaimer but you understand I'm sure. When I write in this story about a seriously corrupted and fearful government I am in no way implying that this is true ofour government or the current political regime. This story is about a dystopian, parallel universe. In fact, I set it in the not terribly distant future. I just never assign dates (save for the month and occasional day number and lunar phase) because I want you to use your imagination. How soon or far off could **_**you_ see this happening? But I don't make up fanciful situations. These are honestly how I see human nature responding to certain stimuli be they humans facing a different breed of human or the government facing near apocalyptic conditions. These are my observations on human behavior. Nothing more, nothing less. Okay, enough of that. Chapter 37...go!*_**

They sat around a large round table with a bright light illuminating them and dimming anything outside of the table. This was how they were supposed to work. They left themselves outside of this room, this building. All that mattered were the cases brought before them. All that mattered were the issues. All that mattered were the people. So they hoped. Men and women sat around the table in dark or at least drab suits, they all wore suits, with constant worry on their faces.

Their leader entered. Well, he was more of an organizer. He saw to it that every subject was covered and that solutions were reached. For now we will refer to him as Mr. X, since his name and identity needn't matter at all. Not in here. "Tell me something good people," he sighed wearily as he reached his seat.

"I'm afraid there isn't much good to be told," a woman across the table replied. How about we call this terrified but outwardly cool woman Mrs. K?

"Then tell me something we know," demanded Mr. X.

A large man in a beige suit sighed as though he hadn't a care in the world. Mr. P. "We know a great deal I'm sure."

"Doubtful," scoffed the youthful Mr. M. He was new to the round table and by most considered a nuisance.

Mr. P openly rolled his eyes, not very dignified for a man of his position. "We know plenty. The undesirables—"

Mr. X put up a hand. "Call them what they are. The vampyres. We needn't give them some…caste title. The vampyres. Now continue."

Mr. P cleared his throat. His feathers had clearly been ruffled. "The vampyres are being recruited once more. A familiar young woman always at the scene." The group nodded. They'd become familiar with this particular vamp sympathizer.

"Yes," Mr. X sighed. "This, Mari Diana, yes?"

"A writer," Ms. N piped in. "A young woman of little importance. She spoke up and…your predecessor grew concerned. Had her black listed. She should have been Bagged and yet…"

Mr. X rubbed his temples. He hated when they added dramatics to their deliveries. "And yet, councilor?"

"She is excellent at endearing herself to people I suppose," Ms. N sniffed.

"Is it endearing herself?" Ms. H asked. "Or is it simply seeing them as human beings?"

Mr. P chuckled at the young Ms. H. "Aren't we supposed to leave our personal opinions outside?"

"You can hardly judge her," Mr. M retorted. "The man who moments ago called the vampyres 'undesirables'." Mr. P puffed up, prepared to come back at the young man just as hard, but a single glance from Mr. X deflated him.

"Whatever the reason may be," Mrs. K resumed, hoping to remind her co-councilors of their positions, "she made friendships, alliances, which kept her out of the Baggers' reach. For nearly three years. Then she changed direction. Rather than running she chose to rally vampyres and vamp sympathizers to fight. To rise up against the rules holding them down." Mr. P opened his mouth to begin again with his tired reminder. "I'm not spouting my personal opinion. I am merely stating what they did. And they did rise up against the Baggers and those testing on the Bagged and they won."

"Not only did they win the battle," Mr. M continued, "but they began a war. This Mari, with the help of a supposedly escaped PC—"

"PC?" Mr. X inquired.

"Living computers, sir," Ms H sighed, unable to hide her sadness. "People with databases implanted into their brains."

Mr. M nodded. "Yes…this was how the PC knew what to do. She and Ms. Diana stole footage from security cameras and used it against those on the film. And they released thousands of scientific subjects."

"We thought it might be the end of her," Ms. N added. "Her being a radical, a species not known for thinking very far ahead, we assumed that was all she had planned. Perhaps we were wrong because she began popping up all over. Seen stopping local vigilantes from destroying vampyres and their supporters. Then she disappeared from our radar for a small amount of time."

"Then she popped up again and began recruiting for this war she began when she attacked the testing facility," Mr. P growled. "We believe she may have been party to the murder of the many dead scientists."

"I thought she was part of the rebel group protecting the remaining scientists," Mr. M quickly replied.

Mr. P scoffed and gave Mr. M a patronizing look. "If you can really believe they are still alive. Even then, who's to say she didn't kill the scientists to instill fear into the hearts of the living?"

"We are here to discuss the facts," Mr. X boomed, "not speculate."

Mr. P shrugged. "Aren't we? We want to figure out what she's up to; doesn't that require speculation of some sort?" He was right, there was no getting around that, but each and every one of them hated to admit it when he was.

"Still," Mr. X pushed on. "Our speculations should be based on hard facts."

"And the facts are that Mari Diana is an extremist," Mr. P maintained. "Why shouldn't we consider the possibility that she would kill off scientists to prove a point?"

"Alright, you've been heard," Mr. X sighed. "What else do we know? Anything about these other groups we've seen moving?" There was a simultaneous shrug among the people around the table. "Nothing?"

"Well, certainly very little," Ms. N replied quietly. "But we do know they are not allied with the vampyre group or Mari. There are several distinct groups sequestering themselves. Members of the government have been pulled into these groups."

Mr. X raised his eyebrows as far up his forehead as they could go. "Government?"

Mr. M shrugged. "Congress, senate, several governors, mayors, supreme court members, even military. From federal to local government. It's like an epidemic. No _grandma_ is immune let alone government employee or elected official."

"My God," Mr. X sighed.

Ms. H chuckled a little. "Or gods, as the case may be. Members of my community have been heard proclaiming that some god or another has told them what they are to do."

"Gods?"

"Yes," Ms. H continued. "Ancient Sumerian gods, Egyptian, Greek, African, Native American, Nordic, Christian. You name it, it's been listed. Hell, the sergeant of my local police department said that he was off to follow Set's orders."

"This is madness," Mr. X worried, to himself more than anything. "So what should we do? Suggestions?"

There was a brief moment of silence. Mr. P stood up, smiling a little. "Do? Why I suggest we do nothing."

Ms. H and Mr. M shared a look of concern. "Nothing?" Ms. H cried. "But this is leading up to war. People are going to die."

"They will fight, regardless," Mr. P sighed as though there was little he could do about the matter. "We will come in and pick up the pieces." The table erupted in concerned chatter. "We cannot stop these zealots from fighting, killing and dying. All we can do really is reap the benefits."

Mr. M stood angrily. "Reap? How dare you?"

"We fight them and we will lose valuable officers to an unreasonable, primal force!" Mr. P shouted over Mr. M. "We allow them to cull themselves and we will be allowed to repair the damage. People will believe in us just as these people are in their gods. Belief is powerful. We could use this to our advantage."

Mr. X shook his head. "I'm not sure…but at this moment there seems to be little we can do. When we next reconvene I hope you will all have more information. The more we know the better we'll be able to protect the people from this war on our horizon." He paused. "I really hope we can find out more…because as powerful as the belief of people is I would rather not gain it in such a manner. I want the people to believe in their government because we protect them, not because they fear us less than an opposing force."

* * *

><p>Mr. P walked to his car in the parking garage. He was intercepted by a young man with a burned face. "Hello, sir," he said calmly, with an English accent. "I'm Michael Covington. Might I have a word?"<p>

_***I like covering different parts of this story. I really like the impersonal view point in this chapter. Oh and, just so you know, we know at least one of the shadow people.***_


	38. Searching

**_*Thanks to Bebe465 for reviewing and getting my ass in gear. It's amazing what one nice review can do for a person. Haha. Okay, back from that hiatus I accidentally took.*_**

With my new plan of action in mind, we set out to find ways to put it into motion. We needed help, that was for sure. We needed ways to find the different factions who, according to Gia, had already begun gathering and separating themselves from one another. Things were progressing, and quickly. I was going to need to get in touch with each of these groups before they started hacking away at each other. It was bad enough Kiyohime's boy was running around causing chaos for his wannabe goddess.

"How are we supposed to find them all before this game takes place?" Sonja asked, frustrated beyond all belief. I couldn't blame her. She was one of my top researchers and wouldn't rest until she had everything figured out.

Daniel shrugged. "My people have taken off to hide. If I knew where they were I could just poof to them but they left no forwarding addresses. We followers of Tepoztecatl sure know how to hide." He shook his head. "If I could get to them I could talk to them about backing us up when approaching the other groups."

"Same with my people," Mollie sighed. "No idea where they would hide."

"I know," Sarvajna chimed in from the doorway.

"That's nice sweety," Jason replied in a patronizing manner. "A locator spell? Maybe we could do that."

"They'd cloak themselves, I'm sure of it," Jordan quickly corrected.

Sarvajna gave them an amused look. "Hold up guys," I ordered, walking over to the young woman. "Sarvajna, are you having a lucid moment?"

"About…89% lucidity, which is all you can ask for from a follower of the Trickster," she replied with a grin. "I know where everyone is. Where all of the factions hide. They create little anomalies in the web of magic which surrounds the world."

We all shared a glance. "You can do that?" Connor asked slowly. He was trying not to get his hopes up. Sarvajna nodded with glee.

Sonja gave Sarvajna a skeptical look. "Why would a crazy person be able to sense 'anomalies in the web of magic'? No offense, hon."

Sarvajna shrugged. "What better person for the Trickster to entrust with such information than the one with the least credibility?"

So Daniel and Mollie poofed away to the locations Sarvajna had designated as Aphrodite and Tepoztecatl's follower's hideouts. They said they would be back in the next three days and that if they were any later we should assume them dead and probably not trust Sarvajna. Pretty solid plan, although I wasn't sure that Sarvajna's intel would be what got them killed. If anything it might have been their fellow followers or an attack from another group.

Meanwhile, Jason and Desmond worked with Sarvajna to pinpoint each faction's position. Then we would discuss how we planned to visit each group and our approach. How was I going to talk them out of the idolatry which had been engrained in their very souls? Probably something I should have thought about _before_ declaring my side. Still, I was…moderately optimistic.

I sat out on the grass behind the house trying to meditate. I was still pretty bad at it but I had to try. At this moment everyone was preparing and I was kind of useless. I listened to nature around me, felt the breeze, smelled the swampy air and felt the buzz of energy coming from inside the house. Then I heard just a little noise, a tiny twig snapping just barely loud enough to be audible, and saw a little orange light from behind my closed eyes. "Gia?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed. "What's up?"

She laughed a little. "Damn, I thought I could be quiet enough to surprise you. Figured you were deep in meditation."

"No such luck," I sighed, turning to look at her. She'd let her dark hair stay long. She normally kept it short, just below her chin, but it had grown out in the three months she lay comatose. Her hair grew really fast. She decided maybe it was time for a new look and hadn't cut it in the month since. "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be doing some rehab exercises with Paine?"

Gia rolled her eyes and plopped down next to me, her orange skirt flowing out around her like she was a flower. "I'm tired of rehab so I decided to skip out." I gave her a concerned look. "Geeze, Mari. I'm fine. Vampyres heal quickly. Your bio-dad just is a bit of a worrier. Gee, I wonder where you got it from."

"Okay," I chuckled. "No more worrying from me."

"You can't help it. It's clearly genetic." She nudged me with her shoulder. "So what're you meditating on?"

I took a deep breath. "How the hell I plan on saving these people from themselves. Got any suggestions, psychic chick?"

Gia shook her head. "The battle looks…hazy. I think the magic from other gods is blocking my ability to see it in totality. It's a little scary…not being able to know what's going to happen. I feel like a normal person."

I put my arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry so much. The rest of us get by just fine."

"So you do," she sighed, snuggling into me. She stayed there for a moment and I breathed in her scent. She always smelled like honey and I could never understand why. But I'd missed it while she was gone. I'd missed her light. "So why haven't you told me?" she asked, startling me. She pulled away and gave me a sweet, inquiring stare. "You know, about you and Erol. Why haven't you told me?"

I looked down at the grass. Oh sure, that she could see. "I didn't…I didn't want to—"

"Upset me when I was weak," she finished. "Sure, but I've been awake for a month now. You should have told me."

"Told you what? That I—"

"No, eww, not like details," she cringed. "I mean…the fact that you are totally in love with him. It's why you're keeping him at bay."

I shook my head. "I can't think about that. There's—"

"There's _always_ a fight coming," she scoffed. Conversations with psychics. You never get a word in edge wise. "You can't keep putting things off like that." I stared for a moment and she rolled her eyes. "Okay, I won't finish your thought. Speak up."

"I need to concentrate on this battle right now. I can't be wasting my energy on social problems and…besides which I don't know that I love him."

"I know you do," Gia replied. "And one moment alone with him will confirm it for you." I shook my head. "Why not?"

"Like I said, I need to concentrate on—"

Gia leapt to her feet. "And then the next problem will arise, and the next, and the next, and then finally he isn't there, or you aren't there, or I'm not there, or everyone has died and you haven't done a damn thing about your soul. You need love Mari, it's good for the soul. Don't get me wrong, I'd really like it if that love was for me, but as it is you love Erol and…he is _really_ good for you right now."

"And me?" I finally sighed. "Am I any good for him?"

Gia laughed and knelt down beside me. "Never," she whispered, with a devilish grin. "But that's the way he likes it." She held my hands. "Go talk to him. He needs it and…you kind of need it too."

I stared up into her warm eyes. "I do love you, you know?" I knew she wouldn't read into it if I said that. I knew she would take it as it was intended. I adored her. She and Daydream and Erol and Desmond…they made me whole. I loved them; every molecule.

Gia smiled and pulled me to my feet. "I know." She gave me the wise look she and Daydream were always giving me then broke into a goofy smile. "Besides, there's still time for you to fall madly in love with me. We'll be fighting side by side for a long time to come."

I laughed, not expecting that response, then shoved her away from me. "You're hopeless."

"I'm so aware," she instantly replied.

I took her advice and headed up to Erol's room. The door was partly open so I peered in. I saw him running over a list of things we needed. He looked so tired but he kept pushing on. He pushed on because I had asked him to do it. I needed his attention to detail. I smiled and pushed the door open a little more. It creaked and he looked up at me, startled.

"Mari," he sighed, standing up quickly. "Gia warned me you would be coming up looking for advice. So what's up? What do you need?" He smiled back at me dutifully, his eyes bright and alive.

I smiled and shook my head. Damn it all Gia. I _was_ in love with him. He gave me a curious look but I just sighed and kissed him before he could ask me anything.

_He_ was what I needed right now.

* * *

><p>Mr. M shook his head as Ms. H spoke. "Are you sure?" he asked barely above a whisper. It was against protocol for them to speak to one another outside of the conference room. But the way things were going these days…to hell with protocol.<p>

Ms. H nodded, vehemently. "The bastard seems to have a deal with them. I saw him with this one man, an English guy I've seen before, and they talked about the upcoming war. He told the guy it was fine and he had it under control. Said Odin would get his war."

Mr. M punched the wall and quickly cursed to himself. The wall was cement but it seemed like it would make him feel better at the time. Then he turned his cursing to Mr. P. "The dirty bastard is pushing the war. He's determined to keep us from interfering."

"And you're, what? Surprised?" Ms. H scoffed before taking a breath to calm herself. "But he isn't wrong, in his arguments. If we bring the military in what good will it do?"

Mr. M nodded. "We'd just be adding to the casualty list." Ms. H cringed. "Sorry," he added. He forgot how much she hated the word _casualty_. "But we can't do nothing. And what did he mean by that thing he said about 'moving up'?"

"The time for the war," Ms. H sighed. "Apparently something has given them cause for alarm. It's why the factions have begun gathering like they have. It's supposed to be a gradual thing. At least…at least that's what the English guy said."

"So they hadn't met?"

"No, but they'd heard of one another." She shook her head. "I don't know what to do."

Mr. M shrugged. "Well, you said you knew her right? So why not go to her with this information?"

Ms. H rolled her eyes. "Oh, what could she do with it?"

"I don't know. I'm not her. But she does have a habit of taking the little things and turning them into giant weapons. Remember how easily she took down the Vampyre Containment Center?"

Ms. H thought about it for a moment. "True enough. Still…no you're right. I'll contact her immediately."

"I'm coming with you," Mr. M said, rather authoritatively. Ms. H didn't feel like arguing.

"She's in Florida. I just pray we get to her in time."


End file.
